Yield performance of taro (Colocasia esculenta L.) cultivated with topdressing nitrogen rates at the Zona da Mata region of Minas Gerais

• Autor(a) principal: Lopes, Iza Paula de Carvalho
• Data de Publicação: 2016
• Outros Autores: Puiatti, Mário, Vidigal, Sanzio Mollica, Sediyama, Maria Aparecida Nogueira, Ribeiro, Marcelo Resende de Freitas
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: LOCUS Repositório Institucional da UFV
• Texto Completo: http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/0034-737X201663060019; http://www.locus.ufv.br/handle/123456789/13214
• topic: Colocasia esculenta L.; Fertilization; Yield; Urea

Response of taro to amount of nitrogen applied and time of application has been the subject of discussion. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of nitrogen topdressing on taro yield. Two experiments were conducted in Oratórios - MG from September 2010 to July 2011 (Year 1) and from September 2011 to July 2012 (Year 2). Both experiments were arranged in a randomized block design, with four replications. The treatments consisted of five N rates (0; 40; 60; 80 and 160 kg ha -1 ) applied as topdressing at urea form. The corms of Japanese clone (BGH 5925) were planted in the 0.90 x 0.30 m spacing. In the two experimental years, yield increased in almost all corm classes with the increase in N rates. The estimated maximum yields of marketable corms were 22.23 Mg ha -1 in Year 1 and 9.81 Mg ha -1 in Year 2, with109 and 118 kg ha -1 of N, respectively. The total number of corms per plant was similar in both years (16.45 corms/plant in Year 1 and 17.76 corms/plant in Year 2). Unmarketable corms represented 35.32 and 46.51% of the total per plant, in Year 1 and Year 2, respectively, indicating less corm growth in Year 2. The curve of taro response to topdressing N rates wassimilar in the two years and, the estimates were influenced by the difference in rainfall between the years. With themanagement of nitrogen fertilization, the maximum yield of marketable taro corms was achieved with N rates varying from 109 to 118 kg ha -1 .