Abstract

Humanity needs an alternative agricultural development paradigm, sustainable and able to produce the food needed by the growing world population. The application of beneficial soil organisms offers a promising alternative for maintaining crop health and productivity. In this report, a field experiment was conducted to study the effect of a Pseudomonas fluorescens-based biofertilizer on sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L) Lam) yield. The cultivar INIVIT B 240-2006 was planted in an experiment with 12 treatmentcombinations; the method of application was by immersion of cuttings before sowing for 0, 5, 10 and 15 minutes and the studies included the bioproduct combination with doses of 0, 50 and 100% of NPK mineral fertilizer. All treatments were tested at a randomized block design with three replications. During the harvest after 130 days of growth, some measurements related to yield components were recorded on ten randomly selected plants from the central ridges of each plot. Field experiments showed a positive response in the agronomic variables in all the treatments where the immersion of cuttings in the solution of P. fluorescens was carried out. The combination with 100 % NPK and the immersion in P. fluorescens for 15min showed the highest yield (56.09 tha-1), followed by the other treatments with 100 % NPK and without statistical differences among them. The treatment with 50% NPK and the immersion in P. fluorescens for 15min (49.58 tha-1) had no statistical differences with the control variant (100 % NPK, 51.60 tha-1). Based on the results, it can be concluded that this biofertilizer could be an appropriate alternative to increase the sweet potato yield, saving the 50% of the current quantity of the recommended mineral fertilizer, through a more friendly environmental techniques to promote a sustainable, efficient and productive agriculture.

Keywords:Sweet potato; Biofertilizer; Fertilization; Phosphate solubilizer; Sustainable agriculture; Yield