Viabilidade econômica do uso do sistema de irrigação por gotejamento na cultura da cebola

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the economic feasibility of the use of drip irrigation system on onion crop. Theexperiment was set at open field beds in the experimental area of the Agricultural Department/UFLA, from June to October 2008. Theexperimentaldesignwasrandomizedblocksinfactorialscheme2x6,withfourreplicates.Treatmentsconsistedoftwoonioncultivars, the hybrid Optima F1 and the non hybrid Alfa Tropical and six soil water tension values, 15, 25, 35, 45, 60 and 75 kPa. Theeconomic analysis of the irrigated farming was based on the production costs theory and considering the used methodology it wasconcluded that, for all treatment, variable costs were the ones that most affected the final cost of onion harvest. The average total costs wereinverselyproportionaltotheyield.Inallsoilwatertensiontreatmentsforbothcultivars,indicatingascaleeffectontheeconomical result. At the conditions of this experiment, the recommendation is to use 15 kPa tension as an indicator of the momentfor irrigation, and the hybrid cultivar Optima F1 for higher profitability. The drip irrigation on onion crop, using the soil water tensionvalues tested and both cultivars is a viable economical technique.