Período de interferência das plantas daninhas na cultura do Guaranazeiro

Abstract

Guarana (Paullinia cupana var. sorbilis) a plant from the Amazon region that produces the fruit known as guarana. The production of guarana involves small farmers and is a source of income for thousands of people in rural and urban areas. The interference caused by the competition of weeds with crop plants is an important limiting factor of guarana production. Despite its economic and social importance, there are few studies on the management of weeds and the ecophysiological behavior of this species. Thus, this work aimed to study the periods of weed interference on the productivity and physiological characteristics of guarana. The study was conducted in Maues, AM, in the 2014 harvests and 2015. The experimental design was randomized blocks, with eight treatments and four blocks. The treatments were a combination of four different periods of weed control (from March to May, June to August, September to November, December to February). During the period from June to August, weed interactions with Guarana provided the lowest productivity (156,16 kg ha-1 of grains), compared to the same period without living with weeds (309,05 kg ha-1 of grains). Therefore, interference of weeds during June to August reduced by 50% the productivity of guarana.