Efecto de la densidad poblacional en parámetros morfológicos y agronómicos de la zanahoria (daucus carota) en la granja Santa Inés

Abstract

The carrot (Daucus carota L.), is a crop of economic and nutritional importance worldwide for its nutritional contribution to humans, such as beta-carotene, vitamins and fiber. It is native to the European and Asian continent. The main producers worldwide are the United States, Poland, China, Japan and the United Kingdom. In Ecuador the main producing provinces are Cotopaxi, Bolívar, Pichincha and Chimborazo. The agronomic management begins from the selection of land, with clay loam soils, with little or no compaction to obtain an excellent production. The sowing is carried out directly, by stream or broadcast, the distance between plants is executed at the time of thinning prior to the emergence of the plants, The cultivation care must be very punctual such as water irrigation, weed control, pest control, and fertilization. The issue of planting distance is very important, this influences the total yield of roots. The objective of the work was to demonstrate the effect of different population densities on morphological, agronomic and productive parameters of the carrot crop in the Santa Inés farm, for which a field trial was carried out in the experimental area Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, belonging to to the Technical University of Machala, in the months between August and November of this year. A simple Latin square design was applied, covering an area of 64 m2 and a net area of 24 m2 located in 16 experimental units. The manipulated study factor was the planting distance (20 cm x 5 cm, 20 cm x 8 cm, 20 cm x 12 cm and 20 cm x 15 cm), and the effects of the uncontrolled factors, slope of the terrain and soil fertility in the variables measured by the double blocking technique, for which columns and rows were formed. Data were taken from 10 plants in each experimental unit in which the plant height (cm) from the ground to the tip of the foliage was measured at 30, 60 days and at harvest time, in addition to the number of active leaves at 30 , 60 days and harvest time, the leaves were counted visually. The weight of the leaves (kg) at harvest was performed using an electronic scale. The root diameter (cm) was measured using the vernier caliper. Root length (cm) was measured from the base of the false stem to the root tip. The weight (kg) of the root biomass of each experimental unit was measured by means of an electronic balance. To discover statistical differences between the planting densities as a function of the study variables, intergroup factorial ANOVA was used whenever the assumptions of data normality, independence of homogeneity and observations of variances were made. If there are statistical differences between treatments, Duncan's test of ranges and multiple comparisons was used, in order to know between what distances from sowing to sowing the differences are found through the homogeneous subsets. The results in plant height at 30 days (18.5 cm), 60 days (58.6 cm) and harvest time (62.7 cm), indicate that the 20 cm x 5 cm sowing distance treatment was superior to the other treatments. The number of active leaves at 30 days (5 to 6 leaves) did not show significant differences, but at 60 days (9 leaves), the 20 cm x 12 cm treatment was higher than the other treatments on that day, and The last result of the number of active leaves was at harvest time (13 leaves), the 20 cm x 15 cm treatment surpassed other treatments. The weight of the leaves (0.099 kg), root length (15.8 cm) and root diameter (2.5 cm), the 20 cm x 15 cm sowing distance treatment stood out among the other treatments in mentioned variables. Regarding the yield (28.1 tn ha-1), the 20 cm x 5 cm treatment exceeds the rest of the sowing distances according to the weight obtained under the climatic conditions in that experimental site.