Contribución de esquemas de fertilización orgánica y convencional al crecimiento y producción de Theobroma cacao L. bajo arreglo agroforestal en Rivera (Huila, Colombia)

Abstract

The impact of organic fertilizing schemes on the cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) growth and production under agroforestry systems (AFS) has been scarcely studied.In this sense, in Rivera (Huila-Colombia), the effect of different management strategies for amendment application in cocoa under agroforestry systems was evaluated. Four treatments were considered: i) conventional fertilizing or farmer fertilizing (chemical, T1); ii) Potassium sulfate (chemical, T2); iii) eco-cocoa + Super 4 (ECO-S4) (organical,T3); and iv) the mixture of among the treatments with potassium sulfate + eco-cocoa (SP-ECO) (chemical +organical, T4). Variance analysis, Fisher test (p<0.05) and principal components analysis (PCA) were used fordata comparisons. For the height of cocoa plants, there was an average increase of 22.5 cm, while for stem diameter was 4.71 cm, with significant differences between the treatments. In general, an effect of the fertilizing scheme on the agronomic parameters of cocoa evaluated was found —especially for some important variables such as number of grains per pod and average weight of the grain—. There were similar parameters between the chemical and the organic treatments. This demonstrates that organic schemes of fertilizing could be an important alternative for improving cocoa production.