Avaliação do desenvolvimento da capuchinha (Tropaeolum majus l.) cultivada em vaso com irrigação por capilaridade em casa de vegetação

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the influence of the use of the capillary ascending technique and the use of the commercial substrate on capuchinha production in a protected environment. The experiment was conducted in greenhouse, located in the experimental area of the Agricultural Engineering course, Universidade Federal do Pampa-Campus Alegrete /RS. The experiment was two - factorial (4x4) in a completely randomized design with four replicates per treatment, totaling 64 experimental units. The first factor was the heights of water loads (13, 12, 10 and 8 cm), and the second factor was the irrigation times (T1: increase of 2 minutes of vessel capacity time - CV: T2: time to reach CV: T3: reduction of 2 minutes of CV and T4 time: reduction of 4 minutes of CV time). The seeds were seeded in styrofoam trays with their cells filled with commercial substrate. The number of emerged seedlings was counted daily to calculate the percentage of germination and the rate of germination. After the seedlings reached four leaves, they were transplanted to 0.91 L plastic pots filled with commercial Mecplant® substrate. The overhangs were made in plastic basins of 44 cm in diameter and 14.5 cm in height. Throughout the experiment were evaluated the height of the plant, leaf area, number and diameter of flowers and leaves. At the end of the cycle it was determined: the moisture content of the aerial part and root; the roots length and the crop coefficient (Kc) was calculated. The variables were submitted to analysis of variance at 1 and 5%. There was a significant interaction among the factors at the 1% probability level for the parameters plant height, leaf area and flower diameter. Already, for the number of flowers, root length, interaction, was significant at the 5% error level. However, for leaf number and aerial and root moisture content there was no significant difference. The average daily water consumption was 1.04 mm.day-1. The highest values of Kc occurred at the fruiting stage. The capuchinha showed higher growth, development and productivity when submitted to a blade height of 13 cm and a 3 minute subirrigation time.