Claudenir Fávero

Organic cultivation of okra with ground cover of perennial herbaceous legumes

The management of green manure with perennial herbaceous legumes has emerged as an interesting practice for vegetable production, improving the cultivation environment and increasing crop yields. In the present study we evaluated the organic okra cultivation in soil covered with perennial herbaceous legumes. The treatments consisted of okra grown in bare soil (control) or covered with tropical kudzo (Pueraria phaseoloides), perennial soybean (Glycine wightii), calopogonium (Calopogonium muconoides), Pinto peanut (Arachis pintoi) and Stylosanthes capitata and Stylosanthes macrocephala. A randomized block design with four replications was used. The weeding of legumes was realized before the okra was sown and this allowed the addition of quantities of dry matter, highlighting the potential of tropical kudzo (3.74 t ha-1), perennial soybean (1.55 t ha-1) and peanut (1.30 t ha-1). Okra cropped in soil covered with tropical kudzo and perennial soybean had the weed lowest dry matter accumulation until 150 days after sowing the okra. At 150 days after sowing the okra, only the areas covered with peanut and calopogonium had higher volumes of water in the soil compared to the control. Throughout the harvest, the okra plants grown in soil covered with perennial soybean and tropical kudzo showed the greatest heights. The maximum okra fruit yield (16.23 t ha-1) was obtained by growing okra in soil covered with perennial soybean.