Influence of Irrigation Depths in the Growth of Chrysanthemum Puritan Cultivar, Cultivated in Pots, under Open Field Conditions, in the Northwest Region of Espírito Santo

Abstract

The present work aimed to evaluate the productive performance of chrysanthemum cultivated in an open field under different irrigation depths. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design, consisting of 6 treatments with 20 repetitions each. The treatments consisted of different levels of irrigation, with daily replacement of 50, 75, 100, 125, 150 and 175% of the crop evapotranspiration (ETc). The ETc was determined daily by drainage lysimeters installed at the base of six pots, used as reference (100% ETc). For the application of the treatments an auto compensating trickle irrigation system was used, with a dripper per pot flowing 1.3 liters per hour. The evaluations were made at 90 days after planting, when measurements of fresh mass of shoot system, dry mass of shoot system, fresh mass of the root system, dry mass of the root system, fresh mass of the flower, dry mass of the flower, plant height, stem diameter and flower diameter. The 175% ETc depth, which corresponded to an average daily depth of 10.69 mm, presented the best results for the analyzed characteristics, however, the plants did not present the quality standard necessary for commercialization due to the negative interference of the incident climatic conditions in open field plants.