Planting density and doses of fermented compost on the yield and chemical and nutritional properties of 'beni-imo' sweet potatoes under organic management
Ipomoea batatas L.; Spacing; Bokashi
The objective of this work was to evaluate the planting density and the addition of increasing doses of bokashi on morphological parameters and the productivity of roots of 'Beni-imo' sweet potato under organic management at Fazendinha Agroecológica Km 47 (partnership CTUR, Embrapa Agrobiologia, Pesagro -Rio and UFRRJ) located in the city of Seropédica-RJ. The experimental design adopted was in randomized blocks, with split plots and four replications. The primary factor consisted of doses of fermented compost, equivalent to 0, 50, 100, 200 kg of N ha-1, corresponding to 0, 1,250, 2,500 and 5,000 kg ha-1 of the compost, respectively. The secondary factor consisted of planting density with three spacings between plants (0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 m), corresponding to 166,666, 111,111 and 83,333 plants ha−1, respectively. The fermented compost was made with the formulation of 60% wheat bran; 40% castor bean cake and addition of commercial inoculant Embiotic® (São Paulo, Korin). The harvest was carried out at 180 days after planting (DAP) by cutting the aerial part with the use of a sickle, pulling out with a hoe and manually collecting the roots. The following were evaluated: total number of roots (NTR), total mass of fresh roots (MTR), total production of fresh roots per plant; productivity and yield in Mg/ha. Linear responses were found in the Bokashi dose curves for root length and diameter; and quadratic behavior for the fresh mass of roots. Plant productivity was not significantly different with the use of Bokashi. The concentration of 200 kg N ha-1 was responsible for an increase in length, diameter and fresh mass of approximately 27%, 28% and 92%, respectively, in relation to the control plants. The average yield of Beni-imo sweet potato reached a maximum of 29.1 Mg ha-1 in the dosage of 50 kg N ha-1 and a minimum value of 25.2 Mg ha-1 when not fertilized with the compost. The planting density did not significantly alter the morphological and productive parameters evaluated.