Vegetative behavior of cinchona (Cinchona pubescens Vahl.) with the application of four organic bio-stimulants in a greenhouse in Peru

Sanchez Santillan T.; Huamán Vela M.H.; Fernandez-Zarate F.H.; Vásquez García J. · Ciencia Tecnologia Agropecuaria (2024) · DOI: 10.21930/rcta.vol25_num2_art:3493

Resumen

Cinchona (Cinchona pubescens) is a species of medicinal importance worldwide, due to its content of quinine, an alkaloid used in the treatment of malaria. Optimizing a greenhouse silvicultural management package with organic biostimulants could represent a promising alternative for mass reproduction. The objective was to determine the vegetative behavior of cinchona (Cinchona pubescens) with the application of four organic biostimulants in a greenhouse. A completely randomized design was used with Big-Hor, Incentive, Agrostemin®-GL, Biol nutritivo, and a control; with three repetitions and 16 plants per experimental unit. The seeds were collected from seed stands in the Conila montane forest and germinated in sand inside a micro-tunnel. Then, the 1 cm-sized seedlings were transplanted into a combined substrate of agricultural soil and sand in a 2:1 (v/v) ratio. Foliar fertilization was divided into three parts, for applications at 15, 75 and 90 days after picking. In the study, it was reported that Agrostemin®-GL had a positive influence on plant size (11.11 cm), stem diameter (3.21 mm), leaf dry matter (0.43 g), and leaf area (54.16 cm2). While Biol nutritivo only influenced root size (19.44 cm) and root dry biomass (0.14 g), both significantly exceeded the other treatments. It is concluded that Agrostemin®-GL and/or Biol nutritivo showed greater efficiency in the growth and gain of total biomass of C. pubescens plants, suggesting its use as an ecological and promising alternative to obtain vigorous cinchona seedlings in the greenhouse.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional Toribio Rodríguez de Mendoza de Amazonas; Universidad Nacional de Jaén