A field trial has been carried out at the Northwestern region of São Paulo State, aiming at studying four pineapple cultivars (Smooth Cayenne, Pérola, Rondon and Turi Verde) in two plant densities (35,714 and 60,606 plants/hectare). The first two cultivars are highly susceptible to Fusarium while the others are considered to be resistant to the pathogen. A randomized complete block design with a split-plot arrangement (main plots = plant densities; subplots = cultivars) has been utilized. Several agronomic and fruit quality traits have been scored: time of inflorescence emission, flowering and fruiting duration, crown weight and number of slips/plant, fruit dimensions, acidity, Brix, vitamin C content, pH and texture of fruit pulps. The cultivar Smooth Cayenne has outyielded `Rondon' and `Pérola' by 47% and 30% (average fruit production and average pulp soluble solid contents, respectively). Moreover, `Rondon' has shown to be able to replace `Pérola' in commercial plantings, because of its flowering and fruiting earliness, similar fruit pulp, smaller plant size (allowing closer plantings), same fruit size in the first and ratoon crops, along with high Fusarium resistance. Higher plant densities have led to higher fruit productivities (56%), lower average fruit and crow weight (10%) and lower number of slips per plant (14%).
pineapple; Ananas comosus (L.) Merrill; cultivar; agronomic; planting density
