Eficiência do uso da água e qualidade pós-colheita no cultivo do maracujazeiro sob diferentes formas de propagação e manejo da irrigação por gotejamento

Abstract

Reducing water consumption with increased crop productivity is a current challenge in agricultural sciences. However, as the largest user of fresh water in the world, irrigated agriculture has been pressured to obtain better efficiency indices. In this sense, techniques are sought that enable the sustainable management of water in irrigation, providing information that supports the integrated management of the water cycle both in terms of environmental efficiency and cost reduction. The aim of this study was to evaluate the productivity, water use efficiency and physicochemical quality of fruits of yellow passion fruit (Passiflora edulis Sims, 'BRS Gigante Amarelo') propagated by seed and cuttings under different irrigation management strategies. Irrigation management via soil water sensing was investigated, varying the upper critical limits of soil water potential used as a reference for calculating the volume of water to be applied in drip irrigation at a fixed frequency. The experiment was carried out in a greenhouse. The passion fruit was cultivated in drainage lysimeters, each one with a surface area of 1.44 m² and height of 0.6 m, filled with a sandy loam soil. The experimental design was completely randomized in a 2 x 4 factorial scheme: two forms of vegetative propagation (seed and cutting) and four upper critical limits range of soil water potential used to calculate the volume of water to be applied in irrigation by drip at fixed frequency: (-6, -10, -20 and -33 kPa), with four replicates. Soil hydraulic properties were obtained through inverse modeling with Hydrus – 1D and soil water monitoring was performed using Time Domain Reflectometry – TDR. Fruit yield, water use efficiency, fresh fruit weight, fruit length (L) and fruit diameter (D), fruit L/D ratio, fruit pulp yield, skin thickness, total soluble solids were evaluated (TSS), total titratable acidity (TTA), ratio between TSS/TTA and pulp pH. The different forms of vegetative propagation did not affect productivity and water use efficiency. The investigated irrigation management criteria had an effect on yield, water use efficiency, peel thickness and fresh fruit weight. The forms of propagation affected the main physical quality variables of the passion fruit. The chemical quality of the passion fruit pulp was not affected by the factors under study.