Cultivo do tomate cereja utilizando biomassa vegetal não compostada de grama batatais e água residuária de bovinocultura de leite

Abstract

In agricultural crops the vegetable biomass is usually mixed with manure and composted to be used as organic fertilizer. It is also common for the compound obtained to be used in conjunction with mineral fertilizers. In this work, a new alternative was studied, called Verdeponia, characterized by protected cultivation with pots filled with non-composted vegetable biomass as a fertilizer source. The cherry tomato cultivar Perinha Água Branca was grown in 8 L pots initially filled with 600 g of batatais-grass (Paspalum notatum) freshly harvested and air dried. In addition to the grass, 750 g of soil was placed in the center of the pots to receive the seedlings. A 1250 g layer of soil was placed on the surface of the pot to keep the grass moist. At 63 days after transplanting, another 300 g of dry grass and a superficial layer of sand per pot were applied. The treatments of the experiment were the control (water supply) and two types of wastewater from bovine corral, raw and treated, with the objective of increasing the microbial load and the mineralization of vegetable biomass. Irrigation was automatic with a water tension sensor on the substrate, to prevent drought and leaching in the pots. Were evaluated weekly: number, mass, equatorial and longitudinal diameters of the fruits, from the beginning of the harvest phase to the end of the experiment and the water use efficiency. The results were analyzed using analysis of variance and the averages compared using the Tukey test at 5% significance. The control and treatment using raw wastewater had yields of 937.06 and 913.04 g per plant, respectively, which are similar to those reported in the literature for the same cultivar in organic cultivation. The treatment carried out with treated wastewater had a lower production (811.32 g per plant), indicating that grass clippings does not require the addition of inoculant to provide nutrients to the tomato. The highest values of WUE (8,6 and 8,4 kg m-3) were found in the control and treatment with raw wastewater, respectively. This technique proved to be a potential alternative in the organic cultivation of Perinha tomatoes in a protected environment.