Production of acelga (Beta vulgaris) in vertical system at different distances in a protected environment

Luis Ruddy Candia Pacheco; Moisés Quiroga Sossa

Abstract

At least half of the population of Bolivia lives in urban areas, this means that there is a growth in the demand for vegetables, thus, a production alternative is needed to satisfy market needs, this can be guaranteed with the implementation of greenhouses that maximize the production of vegetables constituting an alternative that allows to generate additional family income, also, the cultivation in vertical containers allows more intensive productions than those that are traditionally had, in that sense, the objective of the work was to evaluate the Swiss chard cultivation in the vertical system at different distances between plants in a protected environment. The research was carried out in a greenhouse in the Alto Chijini locality located in the city of El Alto. Four treatments were evaluated, consisting of the distance between plants of 10 cm (T2), 20 cm (T3), 30 cm (T4) in a vertical system and horizontal system (T1), these treatments were arranged under a completely block design at random with three repetitions. The variables evaluated were plant height, leaf length, petiole length, number of leaves and yield of green and dry matter. In all the evaluated variables, better results were obtained with T1 and T4, concluding that according to the different distances between plants in a vertical system, the recommended distance in Swiss chard cultivation (Ford hook Giant variety) for a protected environment is 30 cm.