CHIVES IN RESPONSE TO CONJUGATE PLANTING OF TILLERS

Abstrak

The Creole chives (Allium schoenoprasum) is the most common cultivar in Piauí. Recognized for its high preference by the local consumer, being highlighted by the color, aroma, palatability and high tillering. This attribute favors vegetative multiplication, stimulating, for sure, over time, internal competition leading to the formation of tillers with reduced capacity to react to environmental stress. As a consequence, market gardeners tend to decompress the clump leaving only one plant, for fear of losing vigor. Aiming to clarify these issues an experiment was installed in the experimental area of the Department of Plant Science / UFPI, whose treatments consisted of a 4 x 2 + 1 factorial, the first factor being the number of tillers, the second the condition (separated or conjugated) and control treatment (one plant per pit). The design was randomized blocks, with 8 repetitions with plots consisting of a 3 liter pot, according to the treatment. The substrate consisted of the mixture of soil/manure and chemical fertilization. Harvesting was carried out in the 9th week after planting, with the evaluation of the parameters, height, number of leaves and tillers per clump, root length; fresh mass of the tiller; fresh mass of the whole plant and root. Only the height was impaired with the use of 5 tillers. Most parameters received the favorable influence of density and conjugate planting, except for the mass of the tiller and root. Thus, it is possible to opt for the use of conjugate tillers at the maximum density of 4 tillers, when the objective is to plant more than one per pit.