Performance of cashew dwarf clones in the semi-arid of the State of Piauí, Brazil

Abstract

The semi-arid region makes over half of Brazilian northeast area and is characterized by much unpredicted rainy levels, few economic options to its population. The cashew nut crop is one of the main economic and social activities in the State of Piauí which attains the highest proportion of land suitable for this crop in Brazil. Therefore, with the objective of evaluating five selected clones of dwarf-type cashew under semi-arid conditions in the State of Piauí, an experiment was conducted in a complete randomized block design with four replications and 27 plants per plot, spaced 7 m by 7 m. Trees were evaluated for height, canopy diameter, nut yield, disease reactions and insect-pest preferences. Data showed two clones, named CAC 38 and BRS 226, as the best performances and suitable for recommendation to the growers in the region. One clone (CAC 35) was not adapted to studied conditions. BRS 226 revealed a very high resistance to gummosis (Lasiodiplodia theobromae). Under high infestation level, the tip-borer (Anthistarcha binocularis) showed no clone preference.