Agronomic contributions to the hop cultivation: morphology, anatomy, phenology and phytochemistry of cultivars under organic and conventional management

Abstract

The objective of the study is to evaluate the agronomic, morpho-anatomical, chronochemical and economic performance of different hops cultivars conducted in organic and conventional systems. The experiment will be implemented in the "Didactic Orchard", in the Department of Horticulture belonging to the Faculty of Agronomic Sciences of UNESP, Campus Botucatu, from July 2019 to August 2021. The experimental design adopted will be a randomized block design, (2x5), the first factor (parcel) consisting of two cultivation systems (organic and conventional) and the second factor (subplot) composed of five varieties ("Cascade", "Columbus", "Chinook", "Hallertau Mittelfrueh" and "Nugget") containing four blocks, accounting for four useful plants per plot. The varieties were previously selected due to the availability of commercial seedlings in Brazil and will be purchased from a suitable nursery. Soil preparation will be carried out with scarification at 40 cm depth, followed by plowing and weeding. Soil correction and fertilization will be performed according to the soil analysis and the nutrient requirement established for the crop. Fertilization and phytosanitary control will be carried out for the organic production system, in accordance with the national regulations, which are the factors that differentiate between conventional and organic management. Hop planting will be carried out in October 2019 by seedlings planted in pits. The spacing will be 3.0 m x 1.0 m. For the hops conduction system treated eucalyptus poles will be used, being 6m above the soil surface. Drip irrigation will be used. The evaluated characteristics refer to the phenological, morphological, phytochemical and monetary costs aspects. The results will be analyzed through analysis of variance, and the differences between the averages will be evaluated by the Tukey test at 5% probability in the SISVAR software. (AU)