Resumen

NINO R., JAIME ALBERTO; CUERVO A., JAIRO LEONARDO  y  VILLALOBOS R., ROBERTO. Effect of soil matric potential on stevia (Stevia rebaudiana Bert.) crop growth. rev.colomb.cienc.hortic. [online]. 2013, vol.7, n.2, pp.240-251. ISSN 2011-2173.

In recent years, biotechnology has introduced low-calorie, chemical-based artificial sweeteners to the global market in response to the needs of people with limitations regarding the consumption of sugar and calories in their diet. Among other species, stevia is a plant from which sweeteners such as stevioside and rebaudioside are derived, but its cultivation in Colombia is technically lagging, particularly in regards to irrigation management. We studied the soil matric potential (SMP) in stevia cultivation, Morita II variety, grown in the municipality of Prado, in the southern province of Tolima, Colombia, using tensiometer battery installations and the application of various water levels in order to determine the SMP range (0-5 cb, 10-20 cb 30-40 cb, or 50-60 cb). It was found that the irrigation levels of more than 5.4 mm per day did not result in an increased harvest index or concentration of sweeteners for the stevia culture. A soil matric potential of ≤20 cb resulted in an increase of up to 1% in the concentration of the steviosides and an increase of up to 0.5% in concentration of the rebaudiosides; there was also an increase of up to 5% in the harvest index as compared to a higher SMP. Tensions between 50 and 60 cb can be good indicators for the water efficiency of the plants and drip irrigation with emitters placed at 20 cm from the root neck of the plant in stevia growing systems under the agroecological conditions of this experiment.

Palabras clave : water stress; tension; evapotranspiration; sweetener; harvest index; water use efficiency.

        · resumen en Español     · texto en Español     · Español ( pdf )