Mamoneira BRS-Energia sob diferentes fontes e doses de matéria orgânica e cobertura de solo.

Abstract

The Castor bean crop has been destaqued because the many application of its oil, which constitutes one of the best raw material for biodiesel production and the base for many industrial products. Due to the lack of technical information on the soil and water management of the castor bean culture, the present work aimed to to study the sensibility of the castor bean (Cultivar BRS-Energy) to different sources and leveis of organic matter of the soil, on the development, growing and production of plants growing with and without mulching. The experiment was conducted on a greenhouse located on the dependences of the Agricultural Engineering Department of the Federal University of Campina Grande, Paraíba during the period of May to September of 2008. The experiment used was a 2 x 3 x 2 factorial on a ramdomized-complete block design, constituted of two soil organic matter sources (manure and castor tort) three nitrogen leveis (400, 600 and 800 kg ha"' ) with and without mulching, with 3 replicates. A castor bean plant was grown on a 100 Kg capacity plastic vase until 120 days. The soil water content was maintained constant close to the field capacity and monitored with Hg tensiometrs. The results allowed to conclude that the castor bean cultivar BRS was not influenced by the nitrogen leveis applied by both organic fertilizers. The use of the castor sub-product produced a better growth, development and production of the crop when compared with castor using manure as organic fertilizer. The plant growing with mulching produced more than the uncover soil besides of proportioning an important economy of water.