Fenologia e produção de cultivares de amoreiras (Rubus spp.) em região de clima tropical de altitude com inverno ameno

Abstract

The south of the state of Minas Gerais presents the greatest berry-growing center in the country, where are inserted about 2,000 ha in cultivation. Due to the productive structure and berry growers’ organization of that region in the state, the insertion of promising berry cultivars could offer a new alternative income to the South of Minas Gerais familiar farming and to create a new berry-growing in the country. From that, it was aimed to evaluate phenology and production of blackberry cultivars (Rubus spp) in region of high altitude tropical climate with mild winter. To reach such purposes, a trial of competition of 10 blackberry cultivars (thornless: ‘Arapaho’, ‘Xavante’ and ‘Ébano’; with thorns: ‘Comanche’, ‘Caingangue’, ‘Choctaw’, ‘Tupy’, ‘Guarani’, ‘Brazos’ and ‘Cherokee’) and redberry was established in the town of Lavras-MG in 2009 in which the 2010/11 and 2011/12 production cycles. The blackberry cultivars present production cycle between 66 and 133 days and 283 days in redberry with the collection starting in late September and extending to January. Brazos, Guarani and Guarani cultivars enabled the production of higher mass fruits, however, ‘Brazos’ presented the highest yield estimated, most promising subtropical areas. ‘Caingangue’ and ‘Tupy’ presented good balance between the soluble solids and acidity. The redberry presented high fruit yield and proved an excellent option for processing