Efecto de tres fuentes y tres dosis de potasio en el rendimiento de papa china, cultivar “blanca” [Colocasia esculenta (L.) schott] en la parroquia El Triunfo, provincia de Pastaza

Abstract

The objective of this work was to determine the effect of sources and doses of K+ on the agricultural yield of Chinese potato, cultivar "white", because there is no history of similar studies in our country. During the experimental field phase at harvest time (210 days after planting, dpp) the following variables were evaluated: weight of cormels per plant, quality categories of cormels (first-class cormels 100 - 200 g, second 50 - 100 g and third less than 50 g), number of cormels per plant, weight of cormels per category and yield of cormels per hectare, benefit-cost ratio-1 (BC-1). All the sources of potassium increased agricultural yield, although the KNO3 fertilization source was the one that showed the greatest increase. When 99.6 g. plant-1 of KNO3 were applied, the highest quantity of cormels of C. esculenta cultivar “blanca” was obtained with first-rate quality. The fertilization treatment based on the application of 49.9 g. KCl's plant-1 was the one that generated the highest profit per dollar invested. However, in all treatments that used potassium sources, the profit was increased when compared to the control without fertilization. Profits ranged from US $ 0.3 to US $ 1.1 per every dollar invested.