REPRODUCTIVE PHENOLOGY OF PEACH PALMS (Bactris gasipaes KUNTH, ARECACEAE) GROWING IN THE STATE OF SÃO PAULO

Peach palm (Bactris gasipaes Kunth) was commercially introduced in São Paulo in the 1980s, as an alternative for heart-of-palm production, being currently the main species cultivated for this purpose. Phenological studies on fowering/fruiting, in addition to contributing to the breeding program, can provide subsidies for seed production technology. The objective of this research was to evaluate the reproductive phenology of peach palm, to relate the observed patterns with climatic elements and estimate its stages when cultivated in three locations in the State of São Paulo. The experiments were carried out in the IAC Peach Palm Collection, planted in September/1992, in Pariquera-Açu; Pindorama and Mococa. We selected 173, 282 and 150 plants for phenology evaluation and 30, 32 and 33 plants to estimate the stages, between July/June, in different years for each area, between 2013 and 2019. Data were analyzed by the activity index and by the Spearman correlation (rs) between the percentage of peach palms in each phenophase in the month and the climatic variables in the same month, from one and two months earlier. The fowering time depends on the location where the palm is cultivated, infuenced by the average temperature and evapotranspiration in Pariquera-Açu and by precipitation in Mococa. The prevailing climatic elements in fruiting in the three locations are evapotranspiration and average temperature in the month preceding the phenological event and in Mococa it is also infuenced by precipitation. The time for peach palms fowering varies from 41 to 50 days and the fruiting lasts 116 days in Pindorama.