Among the species of plants that produce tuberous starched roots in the tropical region, Pachyrrhizus tuberosus, leguminous plant, which is popularly named “feijão macuco”, “jacatupé” or yam bean. This study proposed to identify some physiological aspects of the yam bean cultivated in foodplain areas (várzeas). Three different genetic materials (2.2, 1.2 and 1.1.6) studied by the breeding program of National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA) (numbered 1, 2 and 3), were submitted to two different kinds of cultivation methods: with and without tutoring and with and without inflorescence pruning. Inflorescence pruning improved the xilose, glicose, reduced sugars, protein and aminoacid contents. The genetic materials did not present differences in terms of plant development, but some variations of xilose, reduced sugars and protein contents were observed among them. The starch content in the roots did not present variation during the plant growth under any of the treatments studied.
legume; tutoring; inflorescence pruning; root formation Amazonia