Growth of escarole in different seasons of year, RS, Brazil

The lack of research about escarole cultivars adapted to each region, as well as technical information on plant growth have been some of the factors related to low yields. Therefore, the aim of this work was to evaluate the growth of escarole crop in four seasons of year in Santa Maria, RS. The experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design, 1 x 4, being a escarole (cultivar Escorola Lisa (R)) evaluated in four seasons of year (summer, autumn, winter and spring), in six replications. The evaluations were performed in a destructive manner every seven days, from date of transplant to harvest point. The following components were analyzed: number of leaves, number of residues, dry mass of leaves, dry mass of leaves, stein and residue. Thus, it was determined the parameters for growth analysis. With the data obtained, we performed a variance analysis, and presented significant results, and the means of each season of the year submitted to the Tukey test at 5% of error probability. The air temperature and global radiation influence crop cycle. Lower temperatures and lower incidence of radiation result in cycle extended, as observed in autumn. The escarole growth is influenced by seasons of year in Rio Grande do Sul (RS), and summer and spring finish the cycle in advance to others, presenting a larger leaf area. Summer and spring arc most indicated season to escarole crop in RS, Brazil.