A cultura da chicória para café (Cichorium intybus L.) na região do Ribatejo

Mestrado em Engenharia Agronómica - Instituto Superior de AgronomiaThis work focuses on the culture of industrial chicory, also named “coffee” chicory (Cichorium intybus L. var. sativum), made in Ribatejo in 2008, especially in what concerns agricultural component. It was aimed mainly to assess the conditions for the development of roots, fertilization needs, fight against weeds, diseases and the evaluation of general behaviour of three cultivars of this crop: hera, orchies, and fluor. The plants emerged a few days after sowing but accompanied by weeds, which brought additional problems to the production, since this operation was delayed in relation to what was expected because the occurrence of rain before the sowing. This led to the need for enhanced application of herbicides not only in pre-sowing but also in post-emergency, bringing difficulties over time of the crop in the soil. Despite this fact, the problem was solved and the production results were relatively good. In addition it was tried to reduce the crop cycle, usually of 6 months, based on business needs for raw materials for industry due to its scarcity in the international market in the year concerned, implying therefore the reduction of the productive potential of culture