Profitability of organic carrot cultivation under weed interference and sowing methods

Abstract

ABSTRACT Spontaneous plants in vegetable growing areas significantly impact yield and costs, regardless of the adopted cultivation system. This study aimed to evaluate weed interference periods on the profitability of organic carrot cultivation under different sowing methods. Two experiments were set up [weed control and coexistence, in a randomized block design arranged as split plots (5 × 2), with five cultivation periods: 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 days after sowing] and two sowing methods were applied: direct and water-conditioned sowing. Based on the production data and technical coefficients, the economic evaluation of production was carried out, with calculation of production costs and revenues. The highest net revenue was obtained when the growing area was kept clean for 19 to 30 days. The total revenue increased linearly by R$ 0.33 m−2 for each day of weed control, while, for the coexistence treatment, it decreased by R$ -0.37 m−2. The water-conditioned sowing increased the economic indicators of the organic carrot cultivation.