Melhoria da produ??o e qualidade de pitaias com aduba??o potássica

摘要

Pitaya is a fruit that is becoming promising for cultivation around the world due to the quality of its fruits in terms of taste and their peculiar external shape. Because it is a recenttly cultivated crop, information about fertilization is essential to enable its production. In this sense, this study was performed aiming to evaluate different doses of K 2 O for pitaya cultivation. Hylocereus undatus and Hylocereus polyrhizus were studied under field conditions . Pitayas were cultivated at a 3 × 3m spacing, and four doses of K 2 O were tested: 0, 50, 100, and 200 g plant -1 , with a 2 × 4 factorial arrangement distributed in a randomized block design. The production per plant (kg and number of fruits) was evaluated in the production cycles of 2013/2014, 2014/2015, and 2015/2016. The fruit quality was also evaluated: longitudinal diameter, transverse diameter, mass, soluble solids content, titratable acidity and soluble solids/titratable acidity ratio. Potassium fertilization increased production and provided a better quality of pitaya fruits.K 2 O fertilization should be from 106.0 to 133.3 g K 2 O in the first year and 200 g K 2 O in the second and third years after planting.