DISEASES OCCURRENCE IN PAK CHOI CROP ON SOIL COVER AND ROW COVER WITH POLYPROPYLENE

Abstract

The cultivation protected by polypropylene or agrotextile has confirmed its benefits increasing vegetables output, when used as plant protection mechanism or used in the technique of soil cover. However, little is known about the diseases´ intensity on the crop system using these techniques. Under these circumstances, the present experiment aimed to evaluate the effect of the techniques of soil cover with black polypropylene (grid of 40 g m^-2) and crop cover with white polypropylene (grid of 25 g m^-2) on the diseases intensity in the pak choi cultivation. The black polypropylene was fixed over the soil before the seedlings transplant and the white one was placed over the plants, fixed as a floating cover after the transplant, and fixed on the sides with its own soil. Each plot had 24 plants spaced at 0,25 x 0,25 m, with seedlings transplanted at the 4-5 definite leaves stages , obtained from trays. At harvest, the spot of Alternaria disease, the soft rot and the plant´s fresh weight were evaluated. The white propylene on the crop’s cover reduced the percentage of sick leaves and also the severity of Alternaria spot. Besides that, it promoted output increase on the “Canton” variety, obtaining plants with higher fresh weight. It was not observed a significant response of the black polypropylene soil cover on the production features. However, this technique should be considered on crop management, inducing lower incidence of soft rot.