Configuração e antecipação de plantio da mamona em consórcio com a cultura do girassol.

Abstract

Castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) is an oil seed crop drought tolerant with its oil having several uses in industry. In the Northeast of Brazil it is commonly cultivated by small farmers intercropped with cotton, cowpea, sesamum, sunflower, sorghum or peanuts. Two field experiments were carried during 2008, 2009 and 2010, at “ Fazenda Experiental Lavoura Seca”, Quixada, Ceara, with the objective to evaluate the behavior of castor bean and sunflower under two intercropping arrangements. In experiment I, its was evaluated the intercropping castor bean (CB) x sunflower (SF) with 1CB:1SF; 1CB:2SF; 1CB:3SF; 2SB:2SF; 2CB:3SF rows, added of sole crop of castor bean and sunflower. In the experiment II, was evaluated with the early planting of castor bean in 0, 7, 14 or 21 days in relations to sunflower the intercropping systems. In both experiments it was used a randomized complete block design with 4 replications. In this study it was determined the yield, yield components and land equivalent ratio (LER) for castor bean and sunflower grown in intercropping and sole crop. The grain yield of castor bean and sunflower was significantly higher in sole crop than intercropping in both experiments. Between the intercropping systems the highest yields were observed when early planting of castor bean was of 14 or 21 days before sunflower. In experiments I and II, showed that the castor bean was the dominant crop in relation to sunflower. Rainfall lower the water requirements of castor bean and sunflower crops, showed a reduction in LER.