Strategies of fertilizer application for ornamental pineapple plants grown in pots under anti-aphid screen

Abstract

Production of ornamental pineapple plants in pots is a recent mode of growing pineapple that demands information on application of soil mineral fertilizers to compose the production system. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of five strategies of application of soil mineral fertilizer on the vegetative and reproductive growths of potted ornamental pineapple plants. The experiment was conducted under an anti-aphid screen, from June 17, 2015 to May 21, 2016, in Fortaleza, Ceará state, Brazil. A completely randomized design with six treatments and four replicates was used, consisted of four plants per plot. The treatments consisted of application of a slow-release fertilizer; conventional soil fertilizer application; fertigation at every 30, 60, and 90 days; and no soil fertilizer application (control). The plants were grown in 1 L pots and irrigated using a drip system every two days. The variables evaluated were: number of leaves; ‘D’ leaf length and width; shoot apex diameter; plant height; flowering rate; length and diameter of peduncle, syncarp, and crown; crown to syncarp ratio; and percentage of marketable plants. Despite the different plant growth, all strategies of soil fertilizer application used can be recommended for ornamental pineapple plants, since they do not hinder the esthetic quality and dimensions required for marketing these plants in pots. Pineapple production without application of soil fertilizers should be avoided, since it reduces the percentage of marketable plants.

Paclobutrazol and ethylene on growth and nutrient accumulation in potted ornamental pineapple

“…The after acclimatization, the seedlings were transplanted to a screen with 50% shading, equipped with transparent plastic on the upper structure, to eliminate rainfall interference under the experiment. Fertilization was carried out with Osmocote© NPK 15-09-12 slow-release fertilizer, as recommended by Santos et al (2021). The recommended total dose, 13.2 g plant -1 , was divided into three quarterly applications, after transplanting.…”

“…Countries such as the United States and Canada have a high demand for products derived from ornamental pineapple (Junqueira & Peetz, 2017). Considering that consumer markets are always looking for new genotypes of ornamental plants with exotic characteristics, the ornamental pineapple has potential (Santos et al, 2021). Souza et al (2014) reports that for pot cultivation requires plant height ≥ 65 cm; the rosette diameter ≥ 80 cm; leaf length "D" ≥ 60 cm; the peduncle length ≥ 30 cm; syncarpium and crown length ≥ 5 cm; syncarpial diameter ≥ 3 cm; and the crown/syncarpion ratio close to 1.…”

Use of paclobutrazol and ethylene in the potted production of ornamental pineapple

“…Fertilization was carried out with 13.2 g plant -1 of NPK 15-09-12 (Osmocote©). This dose was divided into three quarterly applications (4.4 g plant -1 application), after transplanting, as recommended by Santos et al (2021). The irrigation water of the plants had the following physicochemical characteristics: 0.4 mmol L -1 Ca; 1.2 mmol L -1 Mg, 2.5 mmol L -1 Na; 0.2 mmol L -1 K; 4.6 mmol L -1 Cl; EC of 0.45 dSm -1 ; RAS of 1.97 and pH of 6.8, classified as C 2 S 1 .…”

“…The most expressive segment was that of potted plants, which in 2021 represented 58% of the cultivated area in Brazil (Ibraflor, 2022). The growing demand for pot cultivation (Santos et al, 2021;Pereira et al, 2018) motivated Embrapa to develop a hybrid resulting from the cross between Ananas comosus var. bracteatus with A. comosus var.…”