Fenologia e produtividade do Abacate (Persea americana Mill.) na Amazônia Central1

Abstract

The avocado (Persea americana Mill., Lauraceae) is native to Mesoamerica and arrived in Amazonia before the Europeans. We believe that the West Indian race was introduced first, since it is similar to the majority of seedling trees in Amazonia today. Study of its phenology can help plan management and comercialization. Flowering started in the second half of the rainy season (March/April) and lasted until the mid-dry season (August/September); the trees produced 25±15 thousand flowers in 1980 and 38±28 thousand in 1981. Fruiting started at the end of the rainy season (May/June) and harvest ocurred in the mid-dry season (August/October); the trees produced 634±299 fruits in 1980 and 1,054±456 fruits in 1981. Fruit set was 2.6±1.8%, less than values in the literature. The fruits weighed 177.7±41.2 g in the 1980 harvest, and had 51.1±4.5% pulp. We estimated yield at 112 kg/tree in 1980 and 187 kg/tree in 1981, below the mean for well managed trees in southern Brazil. The flowers were visited by 8 bee species, the most common of which were Trigona branneri Ckll, Frieseomelitta sp. and Partamona pseudomusarum Camargo.