INFLUENCE OF BIOFERTILIZER ON THE LEAF STRUCTURE VARIATION OF CHICORY, Cichorium intybus (ASTERACEA)

Abstract

Biofertilizers have been identified as important alternative and agroecological methods for nutritional replacement and/or supplementation, enabling the balance of physical-chemical soil parameters. It has also been highlighted in management and disease control, insects and non-native plants. In this context, was tested the efficiency of biofertilizer use in the Cichorium intybus cultivation. Thus, it was aimed compare leaf production in different treatments. For this, was proposed a biofertilizer recipe and this was applied to two treatments types. After harvest, was performed morphometry and leaf area calculation of the representatives of each treatment, which supported morphological indexes calculation. Were found significant differences between treatments for indexes: leaf width and proportional leaf width, showed major values in biofertilizer treatment. The results indicate that biofertilizer use can provide an optimized status making it possible increasing fitness physiological of plant and, consequently, increasing in biomass production capacity. The investment in agricultural production, mainly leafy vegetables, using of alternative methods as biofertilizer, it showed potentially efficient in ecological, social and economics aspects.