AVALIAÇÃO DO DESEMPENHO DE UMA PLANTADORA DE BATATA ADAPTADA PARA TRABALHAR EM SISTEMAS DE PLANTIO DIRETO E CULTIVO MÍNIMO

Abstract

Potato is one of the most important vegetable crops in Brazil. It is cultivated in a traditional way, where the soil is prepared conventionally through plowing and harrowing, differing in number and sequence. Excessive soil plowing is a common practice among Brazilian potato growers due to the belief that higher soil fragmentation results in better crop development. Alternative techniques, such as no-tillage or minimum tillage, have made good progress for cereal cultivation in Brazil, but have a negligible impact on potato cultivation. This study was done to modify a commercial potato seeder to operate in soils that have not been plowed (no-tillage) or minimally plowed (minimum tillage) and evaluate its performance in conventional, minimum and no-tillage systems. The experiment was laid down in randomized block design, with treatments consisting of three tillage systems (no-tillage, minimum, and conventional tillage) with four replications. The results showed that the potato planted in no-tillage soil saved up to 35 L ha-1 of diesel. The soil prepared with rotary hoe for the subsequent potato planting allowed the potato plants to emerge more rapidly.