Efeito da Torta de Mamona sobre Populações de Nematoides Fitoparasitos e a Produtividade da Cana-de-açúcar

The suppression of plant-parasitic nematodes caused by castor bean cake and others organic amendments have been studied, but there is no information about the amount of organic amendment necessary for consistent suppression of nematodes population in sugarcane fields. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of castor bean cake on nematode populations and sugarcane yield. One experiment was carried out in field naturally infested by Meloidogyne javanica and a mixed population of Pratylenchus zeae and P. brachyurus in Ribeirao Preto, Sao Paulo state, Brazil, using randomized complete blocks design, with six treatments, applied at the planting, (aldicarb 150 G 12 kg / ha, carbofuran 350 SC 6.5 l/ha, castor bean cake at 600; 1,200 and 1,800 kg / ha, and check) and six replicates. Nematode population differed significantly among treatments three months after planting. In this occasion, the treatments with nematicides reduced M. javanica and Pratylenchus populations, whereas the treatment with castor bean cake at 1,800 kg / ha reduced the Pratylenchus population. At the harvest, the productivity in the check treatment (89.3 t / ha) was significantly smaller than the values obtained for treatments with carbofuran (99.9 t / ha) and with castor bean cake at 600 (101.5 t / ha) or 1,800 kg / ha (99.9 t / ha), suggesting that this organic amendment can be useful in a nematode integrated pest management.