The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of some aspects of the management of the crop as spacing and level of NPK fertilizer application on some quality attributes of fruits of the papaya hybrid of 'Formosa' group UENF/CALIMAN-01(UC01). The experiment was conducted in the farm Caliman Agrícola S.A., in Linhares -E. S. We used the randomized complete block design, with factorial arrangement, with three planting spacings among plants (E1 = 1,80 m; E2 = 2,25 m; E3 = 2,70 m), five levels of conventional NPK (A1 = 80% of the company's standard; A2 = 100% of the standard; A3 = 120% of the standard; A4 = 140% of the standard; and A5 = 160% of the standard) and three evaluation periods (June, August and October 2007). The standard NPK fertilizer company consists of 350, 105 and 660 kg/ha/year of ammonium sulphate (20% of N), superphosphate (18% of P) and potassium chloride (60% of K), respectively. We evaluated the firmness of the fruit and pulp, the concentration of soluble solids (SS), pH, acidity (TA) and the ratio SS /TA of the pulp. Data were subjected to analysis of variance and mean test. The results show that among the conditions of spacing and NPK fertilizer levels tested, the best performance was obtained by combinations E1A1 or E2A1, which should be adopted to manage the hybrid UC01. These treatments resulted in fruits with superior quality attributes, in addition to these management practices provide a reduction in spending on NPK fertilizer and a smaller environmental impact according to excessive application of fertilizer in the soil.
fertilization with NPK; papaya; 'Formosa' group; firmness; soluble solids
