Growth and Quality of Papaya ‘Golden THB’ Seedlings Cultivated under Different Irrigation Depths
Robson Prucoli Posse *
Federal Institute of Espírito Santo – Campus Itapina, Highway BR-259, Km 70, Countryside, Post Office Box 256, CEP: 29709-910, Colatina, Espírito Santo, Brazil.
Francielly Valani
Federal Institute of Espírito Santo – Campus Itapina, Highway BR-259, Km 70, Countryside, Post Office Box 256, CEP: 29709-910, Colatina, Espírito Santo, Brazil.
Vinicius de Souza Oliveira
Federal University of Espírito Santo – Center Noth of Espírito Santo, Highway BR-101, Km 60, District Litorâneo, CEP: 29932-540, São Mateus, Espírito Santo, Brazil.
Leandro Moreira da Silva
Federal Institute of Espírito Santo – Campus Itapina, Highway BR-259, Km 70, Countryside, Post Office Box 256, CEP: 29709-910, Colatina, Espírito Santo, Brazil.
Stefany Sampaio Silveira
Federal Institute of Espírito Santo – Campus Itapina, Highway BR-259, Km 70, Countryside, Post Office Box 256, CEP: 29709-910, Colatina, Espírito Santo, Brazil.
Sophia Machado Ferreira da Silva
Federal Institute of Espírito Santo – Campus Itapina, Highway BR-259, Km 70, Countryside, Post Office Box 256, CEP: 29709-910, Colatina, Espírito Santo, Brazil.
Geilson Silva Costa
Federal Institute of Espírito Santo – Campus Itapina, Highway BR-259, Km 70, Countryside, Post Office Box 256, CEP: 29709-910, Colatina, Espírito Santo, Brazil.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The obtainment of seedlings is one of the main stages of the papaya crop and good irrigation management provides proper water status, contributing to higher quality seedlings. Thus, this work had as objective to evaluate the growth and quality of Papaya 'Golden THB' seedlings submitted to different irrigation depths. The study was carried out at the Federal Institute of Espírito Santo, Campus Itapina, located in Colatina, Northwest region of the State of Espírito Santo, Brazil, during the period from May 16 to July 19, 2018. The experimental design was completely randomized with six treatments composed of 25 plants each, totaling 150 seedlings in the experiment. The treatments consisted in the application of six daily irrigation depths, corresponding to 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 mm. At 65 days after planting, the seedlings were evaluated for morphological characteristics: length of the root system, leaf area, plant height, stem diameter, dry mass of the aerial part, dry mass of the root system, total dry mass and Dickson quality index. Irrigation depths interfered in the growth and quality of papaya 'Golden THB' seedlings during their production period. The recommended irrigation depth for the production of papaya 'Golden THB' seedlings with high quality is 8.15 mm d-1, which showed a higher Dickson quality index and good responses in all the morphological characteristics studied.
Keywords: Carica papaya L., efficiency of water use, irrigation management, Dickson index, vegetative development, water replenishment.