Agronomic and economic efficiency of nitrogen fertilization in garlic culture

This study was aimed at evaluating the influence of nitrogen fertilization on the productivity of garlic culture. The experiment was carried out at Goiás State University, Ipameri Unit. The randomized block design was adopted for the experiment, with six treatments and four replications. The treatment consisted of nitrogen doses in cover crop (0; 40; 80; 160; 320 and 640 kg ha -1 ), applied at 15, 30 and 70 days after planting. The cultivar used was Allium sativum L. cv. Ito, from the Roxo Nobre group. Before each N application, the plants components, the presence of photosynthetic pigments and of N content in leaves were assessed. The bulbs were harvested at 100 days after planting and evaluated as to total, commercial productivity, and economic viability. Among the components produced, the average bulb weight and the average number of cloves per bulb were mostly determinant to production. Nitrogenbased fertilization that enabled the predominance of classes 5 and 6 bulbs. There was no significant incidence of pseudo-stem tillers. The doses with maximum agronomic and economic efficiency were 251.7 and 267.2 kg of N ha -1 , respectively, though with a considerable safety margin. .