Sombreamento na ecofisiologia, produção e propágulos de pitaia vermelha

Abstract

In commercial orchards red dragon fruit, Ceará, is common the presence of plants with yellow cladodes, especially in the warmer seasons. Therefore, we carried out a study in order to evaluate the effect of shading on growth, anatomy, photosynthetic pigments, gas exchange and production of red pitaya. The experimental design was randomized blocks (DBC), with five treatments, five replicates and two plants per plot. The treatments were constituted by shading levels: full sun, 35, 50; 65 and 80% shading. The evaluations were divided into two stages (180 and 365 days) in order to observe the effect of treatments on initial growth and production cycle of the first crop. The red dragon fruit, initially (at 180 days), performed better under shade conditions, especially the 35% shade. However, the course of its cycle, plants grown in full sun were the most productive, with number of fruits, twice the shaded. To soil and climatic conditions of Fortaleza (CE) is recommended to grow seedlings in shaded conditions 35% and the implementation of the red dragon fruit orchard in full sun.