Custos de produção e manejo da irrigação por gotejamento na bataticultura

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the response of the potato cultivar Agate, different strains of soil water, trickle irrigated, in order to establish criteria for irrigation management, as well estimating the economic feasibility of irrigation system in potato.The experiment was conducted in an open field in the experimental area of Department of Engineering, Federal University of Lavras (UFLA), during April-August 2010.The experimental design was randomized blocks (DBC), comprising up five (5) treatments and four (4) replicates.The treatments consisted of five (5) soil water stress, 15, 35, 55, 75 and 95 kPa. It was concluded that to obtain higher values: total fresh weight of tubers per plant, mean fresh weight of tubers per plant, total yield of tubers, fresh weight of marketable tubers per plant, yield of marketable tubers, number of marketable tubers per plant, associated with an excellent commercial grading, irrigation should be done when the soil water tension acknowledge the value of 15 kPa at a depth of 0.15 m. The yield of crop yield declined linearly with increasing soil water tension in the range between 15 and 95 kPa. The dry matter content of tubers showed a quadratic response to treatments, and the maximum value of 18.77% was obtained with a tension of 60 kPa. The average total costs were observed inversely proportional to the yield obtained from treatment of water tension in soil, indicating a positive response in relation to the scale of production. The recommendation is that the potato producer adopt as time to irrigate, the value of 15 kPa for irrigation management, to achieve increased profitability in production activity. The use of trickle irrigation system in the cultivation of potato cv. Agate is economically viable.