Event in the onion capital discusses crop production with efficiency and profitability

One of the most cultivated plants in the world, onions are consumed by almost all people on the planet and contribute to the profitability and viability of small rural properties, having high socioeconomic importance. One of the largest producers in the world, Brazil has Santa Catarina as the leader in national production, with 33%, and the Ituporanga microregion has the highest production in the state. Among the concerns of producers in what is considered the national onion capital is maintaining productivity in years of climatic stress, with excess and lack of rain, heat and light, among others.

Such challenges, in addition to hindering the absorption and assimilation of nutrients, also harm the growth of the crop, directly interfering with the profitability of the crop. For this reason, the objective of II Onion Day (Onion Day), which takes place on August 16, in Ituporanga, will be to demonstrate how nutritionally balanced and efficient fertilizer helps to increase productivity and also profitability of the business.

Agricultural engineer Carlos Alberto Silva Jr., from ICL, who is in charge of the event, which will have as speaker professor Simone Mello, from Esalq/USP, with extensive knowledge in onion nutrition, explains that nitrogen is a nutrient extremely important for the crop and difficult to manage due to its large losses due to volatilization leaching. Therefore, it is important to use sources of nitrogen that present gradual release, as it can not only increase the efficiency of fertilization but also optimize operations, as it will provide the required nutrient in the implementation fertilizer throughout the cycle.

“Once absorbed, nitrogen needs to be assimilated, that is, to be converted into organic molecules, such as amino acids, and later protein, in order to provide greater growth and development of the crop”, he says. The nitrogen assimilation process requires other important nutrients such as molybdenum (Mo), which highlights the concept of nutritional balance, that is, providing the right amount of each essential nutrient.

According to the market development consultant, Phusion, Polyblen and PotashpluS, some of the company's technologies, have been contributing to better results in onion cultivation.

Phusion is a fertilizer that, in addition to presenting all the nutrients in the same granule, also has a high concentration of phosphorus (P) with technology to reduce its fixation in the soil, gradual release micronutrients and humic and fulvic acids to stimulate rooting. Polyblen is a gradual release granular fertilizer that contains essential nutrients for plants, as well as micronutrients in different formulations suitable for each crop. Gradual release allows nutrients to be released over time, which helps provide plants with balanced nutrition over a longer period, reducing the need for frequent reapplication of fertilizer. This can be particularly useful in crops where multiple top dressings are applied. PotashpluS is a soil fertilizer that has Polysulphate in its composition, offering an ideal combination of four nutrients in a single application: potassium, sulfur, calcium and magnesium. The recent launch of ICL came with the proposal to replace top dressing with potassium chloride, as it provides four nutrients in the same granule and in the form of magnesium sulfate, potassium sulfate, potassium chloride and calcium sulfate. This helps in the process of building the fertility of the soil profile, in addition to reducing the salt content of the fertilizer, a very common problem in fertilizers that use potassium chloride.

Silva Jr. also states that, in addition to soil nutrition, foliar nutrition is an excellent ally to increase the efficiency of soil fertilizers, as it can fine-tune and supplement plant nutrition, enhancing the absorption and assimilation of nutrients. provided by soil fertilization and helping to mitigate climate stress.

“To maintain excellence and leadership in the sector, producers concentrate their efforts using the best production practices and advanced technologies and we have taken our technologies to them, which have brought an increase in productivity of 15,35%, that is, around 6,5 tons more per hectare”, reveals Silva.