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Production and quality of gerbera under different potassium levels and harvesting times

The cultivation of gerbera is spread all over the country, but little information is available about nutritional requirements for this crop. In order to evaluate the effect of potassium and harvesting times for gerbera during the year, an experiment was carried out in a greenhouse with the cultivar Dinamyte in a completely-randomized split-plot design. The plots consisted of five doses of potassium (0, 2, 4, 6 and 12 g/plant/year) and the sub-plots were seven harvesting times of inflorescences (12, 15, 19, 23, 25, 28 and 31 weeks after the beginning of the treatment) with five replications. At harvest we evaluated length, diameter, fresh weight and longevity of the inflorescence and concentration of nutrients in leaf tissue. A significant interaction was observed between rates of potassium and harvest seasons for length of stem, fresh weight and diameter of inflorescence, and 6 g potassium/plant/year provided the best inflorescence diameter, length and fresh weight of stem in weeks 25 and 31. The highest longevity was obtained with 7.8 g of potassium/plant/year and highest production of stems classified as extra was obtained with 7.1 g potassium/plant/year. The best quality of flower's stem was obtained with a dose of 6 g/plant/year and the quality of the flowers was variable during the year without influence of the rates of potassium on the concentration of the other nutrients.

Gerbera jamesonii; fertilization; productivity; longevity; nutrition


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