The experiment was carried out to compare the growth and accumulation of macronutrients on chicory, covered or not with white polypropylene (TP), 20 g m-2 thickness. The experimental design was of randomized blocks with divided-plots in four repetitions. In the plots, the four treatments consisted of two curly endive cultivars (Crespa and AF-218) in two cultivation systems (with and without polypropylene) and the subplots consisted of the plant age (7; 14; 21; 28; 35 and 42 days after transplant). Seeds were sown on June 2nd, 2003, and transplanted on June 27th. The aerial plant part, number of leaves, diameter of plant, fresh and dry matter of the aerial part and accumulation of macronutrients were evaluated weekly. Except for the diameter of the aerial plant part, the superiority of the other characteristics on the plants covered with TP was observed. The covering of plants with TP, in all period after transplanting, resulted in a greater accumulation of P, K, Mg and S. Plants of 'AF-218' protected with TP during the whole period after transplanting and that presented greater fresh matter of the aerial part, accumulated 836; 515; 205; 144; 90 and 65 mg planta-1 of N, K, Ca, Mg, S and P, respectively.
Endivia Cichorium; growth analysis; non-woven
