SILVA, E. A.; http://lattes.cnpq.br/0851006749944212; SILVA, Erivan Alves da.
Abstract:
The use of spontaneous species from the northeastern semi-arid region as an alternative in the
fertilization of vegetables, presents itself as a promising activity in increasing the productivity
and economic efficiency of agricultural production systems. Therefore, the objective of this
work was to evaluate the agroeconomic efficiency of beetroot as function of different amounts
of roostertree (Calotropis procera) dry biomass in two cropping seasons. Two experiments
were carried out at the 'Rafael Fernandes' Experimental Farm of the Universidade Federal
Rural do Semi-Árido (UFERSA), from October to December 2021 and September to
November 2022. The experimental design was randomized blocks, with five treatments and
five replicates. The treatments consisted of different amounts of roostertree biomass in the
doses of 16, 29, 42, 55 and 68 t ha-1 on a dry basis. Two treatments were added to each block,
one without fertilizer and the other with mineral fertilizer, for comparison with the maximum
agroeconomic efficiency treatment. The agronomic characteristics evaluated were: plant
height, number of leaves per plant, dry mass of shoots, dry mass of roots, productivities total
and commercial of roots and productivity of classified roots according to diameter in: large,
extra AA, extra A, extra and scrap. The economic indicators evaluated were: gross income,
net income, rate of return and profit margin. The highest agronomic efficiency obtained was
with the beet productivity of 36.14 t ha-1 when the amount of 61.29 t ha-1 of roostertree dry
biomass was incorporated into the soil. As for economic efficiency, the best result achieved
was with the net income of 68,740.15 R$ ha-1 made possible with the incorporation into the
soil of 58.68 t ha-1 of the green manure dry biomass. The use of roostertree as green manure is
a viable alternative for vegetable production systems in the northeastern semi-arid region.
