Caracterização morfoagronômica de Etlingera elatior e Heliconia chartacea

Abstract

The floriculture sector covers the flowers and ornamental plants cultivation for various purposes. The farmers constantly look for new products with different forms of uses, high productivity and low production costs. In order to fulfill these requirements, the objective of this thesis was to characterize and select genotypes to obtain cultivars of Etlingera elatior and Heliconia chartacea that are more suitable for the floriculture market. The first experiment was developed in Paulista-PE, from January 2014 to December 2016. The objective was characterized, to the use as cut flowers, ten genotypes of E. elatior from the IAC Germplasm Collection. Based on the score, it was observed that the IAC 26 and IAC 34 genotypes were classified as poorly adapted for use as cut flower since it present: higher weight; less than 19 flower stems per clump and less than three months emitting flower stems in 2015 and 2016. The genotypes IAC 1, IAC 2, IAC 3, IAC 11, IAC 13 and cultivar IAC Prumirim, with intermediate scores for most of the evaluated criteria were classified as appropriate for use as cut flower. The genotypes IAC 41 and cultivar IAC Camburi, with maximum scores for most of the evaluated characters, were classified as very suitable as cut flower. In the second experiment, seven E. elatior genotypes from the IAC collection were cultivated in Paulista-PE and Pacajus-CE, Brazil. The clumps were removed 28 months after planting and photographed. Was possible observed the “Y” system of the rizhome distribution in the clumps cultivates in Paulista, nevertheless was not possible observe this in Pacajus thus the high number of rhizomes. The genotypes cultivated in Paulista presented differences only to the rhizomes diameter (DRi) and ramets length (CRa). In Pacajús, no differences were observed for the characteristics evaluated to the genotypes. Comparing the environments, all values were higher in Paulista, except to CRa for the genotype IAC 2. The genotypes IAC 3 and IAC 26 presented higher try biomass of rhizomes per clump (BSRiT) in both environments, and due to the higher content of essential oils in Pacajus (0.08 and 0.09%, respectively), these presented higher yield. It was possible to observe that the environments conditions interfere in the rhizomes characteristics of E. elatior clumps. In the third experiment, 19 accessions of H. chartacea were characterized using morphological descriptors related to pseudostem, leaf and inflorescences. The purpose was to select accessions with desirable aspects for cut flower production. The experiment was carried out during August 2014 and January 2015 in Goiana-PE. Differences were observed in morphological descriptors related to the inflorescences. In 54% of the inflorescences that were harvested, the length was between 30 and 60 cm and varied according to the number of open bracts. The width was larger than 40 cm in 75% of the inflorescences. About 70% of the harvested stems had weight above 200 g and the average stem diameter was between 20-30 mm. The latter feature was directly related to the stiffness of the flower stem. The length of the peduncle varied between 10 and 20 cm for 60% of the stems. The vase life of the flower stems ranged between 5 and 11 days. In general, most of the studied accessions were suitable for use as cut flower, nevertheless more detailed evaluation is necessary.