Manejo da irrigação e seu efeito na produtividade e no rendimento de óleo essencial da pimenteira-do-reino na microrregião de Castanhal, Pará.

Abstract

The black pepper tree is the species with the greatest economic value in the Piper genus, due to the appreciation of its spicy fruits on the international market. The use of cultivars with high productive potential in irrigated areas are among the main factors that gave national pipericulture a prominent place on the international scene. The definitions of when and how much to irrigate are procedures inherent to irrigation management, through which the timing of irrigation events and their respective water depths are efficiently defined. In this context, the objective of carrying out this work was to evaluate the yield of black pepper essential oil, and the productive performance of black pepper genotypes, as a function of irrigation management by tensiometry, in the edaphoclimatic conditions of the microregion of Castanhal, in the state of Pará. The study was carried out during the year 2023, in the experimental pepper plantation of Empresa de Produtos Tropicais de Castanhal LTDA – TROPOC, located in the municipality of Castanhal-PA. The experimental design used was randomized blocks (DBC), in a 5 x 2 split plot factorial scheme, with ten treatments and three blocks. The treatments consisted of five critical soil water tensions (15, 25, 35, 45 and 55 kPa), being evaluated in the plots, and two black pepper cultivars (Clonada and Uthirankotta), analyzed in the subplots. The variables analyzed were: green pepper production (Ppv), green pepper fruit production (PFpv), black pepper production (Ppp), black pepper yield (Rpp), productivity (PROD), water use efficiency (EUA) and essential oil extraction yields (Re) and their relationship with Ppv, Ppp, PROD and EUA, using Pearson's correlation coefficient (r). Through analysis of the results, it was found that the Uthirankotta genotype demonstrated the highest production values (Ppv, PFpv and Ppp) and productivity of black pepper, being also more efficient in the use of irrigation water (EUA) than the Cloned genotype. It was also found that the Uthirankotta genotype outperformed the Clonada genotype by approximately 34% in the Re evaluation under a tension of 15 kPa, in which the maximum Re values were obtained. Pearson's r values revealed that there is a significant positive correlation between the related variables. In the edaphoclimatic conditions of the Castanhal-PA microregion, the highest productivity and efficiency in the use of irrigation water in black pepper cultivation and the highest essential oil extraction yield are obtained with the Uthirankotta genotype under tensions of 35 and 15 kPa, respectively.