Efeito do parasitismo de duas espécies de erva-de-passarinho em laranja-lima

Abstract

The group of plants popularly known as herb-de-passinho includes several representatives of the Loranthaceae family that parasitize other plant species, causing damage to the growth and development of the host. Despite knowing that most are hemiparasites, which occur in orchards and also in trees and ornamental shrubs, in addition to parasitizing native trees, little is known about the species that make up this group of plants, mainly in relation to the morphophysiological characteristics of the existing populations and what damage they can cause to the host plant. In addition, the forms of control of these species are extremely limited, which requires further studies aimed at monitoring the growth and development of the parasites, the damage caused to the host plants and management alternatives that prevent the death of the hosts. Thus, the objective was to verify the influence of two different species of mistletoe infested in lime orange, in an experimental orchard with different evaluation times. The study was carried out in the field, at the Campus Engenharia e Ciências Agrárias, in a completely randomized design (DIC) in a 2 x 2 factorial scheme, where the first factor represents the species with the control treatment (control), the second factor is the evaluation times. The following biometric variables were evaluated: plant height, height from intersection to crown, stem diameter and crown volume every ninety days after DAI infestation. Analysis of variance detected significance (F test) between species for the variables plant height and canopy diameter. Significant differences were also found for infestation times, except for the insertion height variable.

Keywords: Loranthaceae, Mistletoe and Host.