LEAF AREA AND YIELD OF Physalis angulata L. AS A FUNCTION OF POPULATION DENSITY AND SLOW-RELEASE UREA

Abstract

The genus Physalis includes species used for food, medicinal and artisanal purposes. The wild tomato (Physalis angulata L.), which is common in the mixed maize cultivation called “the milpa”, is cultivated in some localities of Jalisco because of its importance in the preparation of sauces. It is hypothesized that the management of planting density and fertilization application can improve the yield of this tomato. The objective of this study was to evaluate the leaf area and yield of P. angulata L. as a function of slow-release urea doses and planting densities, under open-field rainfed conditions. Nine treatments were evaluated, resulting from the combination of three planting densities and three fertilizer doses. The experimental design was randomized complete blocks with factorial arrangement. The data were analyzed with analysis of variance and the means of the treatments were compared with Tukey’s test (p ≤ 0.05). The relationship between yield and study variables was estimated with simple linear regressions. The results indicated that with 2.5 plants m^-2 the highest yield was obtained (6.4 Mg ha^-1); while with 140 units of slow-release urea the average yield was 5.76 Mg ha-1. The interaction effect showed that with densities of 2.0 and 2.5 plants m^-2 and with 120 kg of slow-release urea, the highest fruit yields were obtained, 6.44 and 6.87 Mg ha^-1. For each unit increase in the variables leaf area, leaf area index, number of fruits per plant and fruit weight per plant, fruit yield increased as well. The yield of P. angulata responded differently to planting densities and slow-release urea doses. The best yield could be obtained with the planting density of 2.5 plants m^-2 and with the application of 30.4 g m^-2 slow-release urea.