Soil organomineral fertilization in carrot crop

Carrot (Daucus carota L.) is a highly nutritious food, ideal for food and human health. Production has increased in recent decades and currently the world harvests more than 40 million t annually. Fertilizers are essential to improve crop response and productivity. Organic sources have been enriched with mineral sources, forming organominerals, which promote several benefits to the soil and plant nutrition. Even so, new studies investigating fertilizers, the nutritional balance of the crop, and its effects on the production system are needed. Therefore, the objective was to evaluate the production of carrots under the application of organomineral fertilizer to the soil, using the hybrid cultivar ‘Verano’, under a semi-humid tropical climate in Cristalina GO, city in the central-west region of Brazil. The experimental design was a randomized complete block design with five treatments: control (mineral fertilizer at a dose of 100% of the recommendation for the standard crop on the property) and four treatments of organomineral fertilizer (100, 80, 60 and 40% of the recommendation). There was a significant difference (P<0.05) in productivity among the different treatments. Fertilization with 100 or 80% organomineral showed similar returns to those obtained with 100% mineral, both for total productivity and for total commercial quality yields. In addition, they provide lower rates of disposal, thus reducing losses in profitability in the production context.