Researches
Adrián Mora Salvatierra, Bryan Palma, Andrés G. Castillo A. and M. Sc. Mario Apuy
Date
July, 2020
The application of aluminosilicates (Sombra WP ®) as an abiotic stress mitigation strategy for pineapple (Ananas comosus cv. MD2) cultivation in the tropics.
Plants require light (e-) to achieve metabolic processes in photosynthesis. Nevertheless, during light excess periods,
high radiation and temperature cause damages for crop development (abiotic stress). This stress reduces the photosynthetic
rates, causes accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and affects the flower and fruit formation, impacting crop yield
directly. For Golden Pineapple (Ananas comosus var. MD-2) cultivation, solar radiation higher than 15 MJ/day or 800 W/
m2 during flowering causes irreversible cellular damage. As a consequence, deformed fruits, incomplete fruitlet filling, weight
reduction and Brix and acidity reduction occur.
In the Costa Rican pineapple industry, implementation of Sombra WP (formulated aluminosilicate based product) spraying (60 kg ha-1) three times during flower development, reduced fruit affectation to less than 1.5% incidence (10-30% in severe scenarios), increased weight up to 360 g/fruit and improved many quality indicators (>14o Brix, >55% m/m total titrable acidity, > 60 mg/100 ml ascorbic acid). By adopting this strategy unexpected adverse climatic conditions are mitigated and the reduction of abiotic stress caused by high solar radiation is achieved.
In the Costa Rican pineapple industry, implementation of Sombra WP (formulated aluminosilicate based product) spraying (60 kg ha-1) three times during flower development, reduced fruit affectation to less than 1.5% incidence (10-30% in severe scenarios), increased weight up to 360 g/fruit and improved many quality indicators (>14o Brix, >55% m/m total titrable acidity, > 60 mg/100 ml ascorbic acid). By adopting this strategy unexpected adverse climatic conditions are mitigated and the reduction of abiotic stress caused by high solar radiation is achieved.
