Nutrição, sombreamento e antagonismo biológico no controle da podridão-de-raízes da erva-mate (Ilex paraguariensis A. St.-Hill)

Abstract

The erva-mate (Ilex paraguariensis) is a species broadly cultivated in southern Brazil and neighboring countries, which leaves and fine branches prepared according to the appropriate method, make the mate or chimarrão , the most popular tea consumed in Brazil and exported everywhere. With the increasing planted area, mainly in the last decade, fitossanitary problems caused by pest and diseases have increased in this crop and among them, the root-rot is becoming one of the main ones. The disease is caused by Fusarium spp., besides Pythium sp. and Rhizoctonia sp. and, it causes serious damages to the roots, causing, in most serious cases, death of the plant. With the suspicion that the incidence and disease severity are influenced by cultivation methods and management practices, such as mineral fertilizers application without technical criteria or no fertilizers, lime application and erva-mate cultivation at full sun, experiments were conducted in the Forest Nursery area belonging to Forest Sciences Department of the Federal University Santa Maria with the objective of confirming these assumptions. The first experiment was conducted in a factorial design (4 x 3 x 4) composed by Fusarium spp. inoculation, by lime application and by NPK fertilization. The second experiment was conducted in a factorial design (2 x 5), composed by Fusarium spp. inoculation and by shading levels. The use of commercial bioprotectors containing antagonistic organisms to Fusarium spp. has given satisfactory results in some patossystems. Therefore, in the conduction of a third experiment, in a factorial design (4 x 4), Fusarium spp. inoculation and the efficiency of commercial products for biological control was tested. It was verified that the lime application, combined with large fertilizer doses, compromised the development of the erva-mate plants, besides turning them more susceptible to Fusarium spp. The availability of nutrients also influenced the fungic population of the soil. In the same way, plants submitted to cower shading levels or full sun had its development compromised and were more susceptible to the disease. The use of commercial bioprotectors was not efficient in the conditions of this experiment.