Desenvolvimento vegetativo, expansão da colheita e qualidade de frutos de abacaxi "Turiaçu" em função da época de plantio e mulching

Abstract

Pineapple 'Turiaçu' is a noble plant native feature of Maranhão, with great acceptance in the domestic market . Currently , the harvest of pineapples 'Turiaçu' concentrated in the months from August to October, a fact related to the planting season which is concentrated in the months of February and March, beginning of the rainy season in the region, which results in high incidence of weeds, causing great use of hand labor and costs to producers. The variation of the planting season can lead to harvest escalation and longer fruit supply to the market, in view of the need to evaluate the effect of stagger on the final quality of the product, as well as in plant development. The objective of this study was to investigate the development of plants in the vegetative stage and of propagation, the harvest expansion, the fruit quality of pineapple 'Turiaçu' and suppression of weeds around six season planting associated with the presence and absence of mulching., the experiment was conducted in randomized blocks, arranged in plot design with four replications. The variation of the planting season was a determining factor in the season planting for vegetative development. Fruit picking Lasted for three months beyond the traditional period (three), with maintenance of the physical and chemical quality of the product with average soluble solids above 16 °Brix , acidity medium in citric acid below 0.5%, ratio above 36 and vitamin C content above 15%. The main benefit of using muching was the elimination of weeds