Economic evaluation of different types of nutritional management in yellow passion fruit vines (Passiflora edulis Sims.)

Abstract

The production costs of passion fruit have increased in recent year mainly due to use of technologies such as different fertilizations, plant density, use of agrochemicals in the protection of plants, production of larger seedlings, among other seeking to increase production. Thus, it is important to know what is the real cost of these techniques to find the financial balance of the production system for increased profitability. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence and impact of nutritional management on economic terms and production costs of yellow passion fruit. The evaluated parameters were: productivity, commercial production, percentage of commercial fruit, commercial fruit classification, production costs and profitability index of passion fruit vines in the municipality of Presidente Prudente, Brazil. Different N rates (150, 300, 600 and 1200 kg ha-1), P2O5 (200, 400, 800 and 1600 kg ha-1) and K2O, (100, 300, 500 and 700 kg ha-1) were applied. The economic study showed that the production cost increased with the doses of fertilizer. However, this additional economic cost was not reflected in increased productivity per area with the NPK doses. The minimum price for selling passion fruit should be USD 0.26 per kilogram of fruit to obtain economic optimization of entrepreneurial activity. There was positive response in the production for classification of fruit (gauge 2, 3 and 4), commercial production, percentage of commercial fruit and with use to N and K2O. Operating profit and profitability index were more satisfactory in the application of 300 kg of N, 200 kg of P2O5 and 300 kg of K2O per hectare. In the nutritional management on cost of production showed that there was a percentage difference in operating production cost of 4.52% between the highest and lowest dose of N. 6.40% between doses of P2O5 and 2.52% between doses of K2O. The biggest difference in production cost was between the tested and recommended doses of 4.04%, 5.81% and 1.71% per treatment at different levels of N, P and K, respectively. The total operating cost ranged from USD 9,049.76 to 8,4699.97 per hectare.