| Resumo: |
The cashew tree (Anacardium occidentale L.) is a plant of great economic importance for the Brazilian Northeast Region due to the diversity of products generated for the fruit and peduncle and the amount of generated jobs. Despite this, there is no standardization in the cropping systems presently used, with negative consequences in the yield and quality of the raw material for consumption and for industry. The conversion of traditional orchards to the integrated-fruit-production system will contribute to minimize this scenery. The objective of this work was to compare the integrated fruit production (IFP) and the conventional cropping production (CP) systems in dwarf cashew orchards, as to nut yield and apple quality for fresh fruit market. The experiment was installed in a commercial orchard, located in Beberibe County, Ceará State, Brazil, at two isolated areas of approximately 0,5 hectare each, where the systems of IFP and CP had been developed. In the IFP system, cropping practices were applied according to the Legal Marks of Integrated Fruit Production in Brazil. In the CP system, cropping practices were applied accordingly with common used by local growers. Twelve plants were randomly selected in each area were used as experimental unit. For the yield analyses, the following variables characteristics had been analyzed: nut yield (kg/tree), nut number/tree and nut weight (g). For the apple analyses, production (kg/tree), number/plant and the average weight (g) were evaluated. For the qualitative characteristics, apple color, firmness, soluble solids (SS), titratable acidity (TA), vitamin C content and pH were evaluated. A completely randomized design, with two treatments and 12 replications, with one plant per plot, was used for evaluating yield characteristics. Similar design was used for quality characteristics, but only five replications with six apples per plot. Means were compared by test t (P≤0,05). Significant differences were observed for the variables cashew nut yield, number of commercial nuts and cashew nut total number. IFP mean were superior to the CP one. For the TA and vitamin C content variables, the IFP system was significantly superior to the CP ones. For the pH variable, a significant difference was observed between the averages of the systems, being the value gotten in the CP superior to the one of the IFP. The post-harvest quality of the cashew apples, the cashew nut production and cashew nut number had been influenced by the production systems. |
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