Resumo

APAEZ-BARRIOS, Patricio; ESCALANTE-ESTRADA, José Alberto Salvador  e  RODRIGUEZ-GONZALEZ, Ma. Teresa. Green pod production in cowpea and support systems in warm climate. Rev. Chapingo Ser.Hortic [online]. 2013, vol.19, n.1, pp.129-140. ISSN 2007-4034.  https://doi.org/10.5154/r.rchsh.2010.09.035.

The cowpea is an important human food crop, eaten as grain and green pods. The species has determinate and indeterminate growth cultivars. The latter require a conventional trellis, which increases production costs and thus creates the need for cheaper alternatives. The aim of the study was to determine, in different types of trellises, green pod growth and yield and cowpea profitability. Planting took place on June 8, 2009 in Cocula, Guerrero. The following were evaluated: time of occurrence of the phenological phases, green pod yield (GPY), pod number (PN), pod length and diameter (PL and PD), number of green leaves (NGL), leaf area index (LAI), leaf area duration (LAD), water use efficiency (WUE), evapotranspiration (ETc) and economic profitability in conventional, maize and sunflower trellises (CT, MT and ST, respectively). During the crop cycle, the average maximum temperature was 38 °C and the minimum was 20 °C, with 738 mm of precipitation. CT presented the highest GPY (1,501 g·m⁻²), PN (149 m⁻²) and WUE (5.4 g·m⁻²·mm⁻¹), which was associated with greater NGL (334 m⁻²), LAI (1.3) and LAD (57 days). MT achieved the highest net income ($ 28,784.00), followed by MT and ST. Green pod production at the site was achieved with 278 mm of crop evapotranspiration and 1,770 °C of heat units accumulated from planting to final cut.

Palavras-chave : Vigna unguiculata; conventional trellis; living trellis; economic analysis.