Some considerations about organic fertilization in cassava cultivation (Manihot esculenta)

The Yucca Manihot esculenta, is a crop of great importance in tropical regions, it is considered as an important food in the diet of the population and also its foliage is used as animal fodder for its high protein content, in the southern area of Lake Maracaibo it is established mainly in small and medium agroecosystems. It is also important to mention that cassava is considered by the FAO (2008), as the fourth most important item in developing countries, in addition, they point out that it is the basic food of approximately one billion people in 105 countries, due to the contribution of calories it provides to humans, they also allege that this crop has a great productive potential that has not been exploited since, the productive yields only reach approximately 20% of what could be achieved if it is managed properly.

The vegetative organ used in cassava cultivation is the root, the plant is propagated vegetatively using cuttings from its stem, crop management does not need major agronomic work to obtain root production, but, although agronomic management costs are reduced if you want to market with this item it is necessary to apply agronomic management because it can cause very low yields. For this reason, according to the FAO (2002), one of the important agronomic management to promote the growth and development of this crop is the use of fertilizers. Generally, those who apply fertilizers in cassava cultivation make use of commercial products, but the indiscriminate use of such products can be high costs and imbalance in agroecosystems.

In that sense, it can be said that both the scarce fertilization tasks that exist in some farms for the production of cassava, can be the cause of the low yields of the field and those who try to apply synthetic products can see production costs rise. That is why it is necessary to implement alternatives that allow maintaining soil fertility at low costs and of course obtain adequate yields per hectare of cassava cultivation.

In the same order of idea, one of the agroecological alternatives for the fertilization of the crop of M. esculenta, is the worm leachate obtained from the composting worm process, the liquid obtained according to what was reported by the national institute of forestry, agricultural and livestock research (N.f), is of excellent quality to improve, correct or increase the fertility of soils because it contains macroelements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, as well as microelements (zinc, iron, copper, manganese, molybdenum, boron, calcium, magnesium, sulfur and sodium), essential nutrients for the growth of plants.

In the southern area of Lake Maracaibo, worm crops are established to obtain the liquid fertilizer known as liquid humus or worm leachate, these substances obtained can be classified as biofertilizers because together with the contribution of nutrients can contribute microorganisms to the soil since, the organic material passing through the digestive tract of the worm is impregnated with a great diversity of beneficial microorganisms being this an ideal biofertilizer for its application in all crops.

Because of the above, it would be interesting to know what the response of the cultivation of Manihot esculenta cassava fertilized with worm humus will be, because one of the most important aspects for the production of healthy and nutritious crops is the adequate nutrition that the soil can provide to the plants, for this, it is necessary to provide the soil with the necessary nutrients to maintain fertility and therefore improve crop yield. In this sense, the self-production of inputs with local resources is an agroecological solution to provide sufficient nutritional elements for agricultural production, it is necessary to gradually increase the elaboration and use of organic inputs, but for this, it is also necessary to increase the knowledge about the productive processes of plants, soil and ecosystems.

Dear readers, the use of organic products or biofertilizers such as worm leachate for crop production is important to integrate into agricultural ecosystems new technologies that are aimed at making efficient use of endogenous resources In this regard, it is important to deepen the knowledge about the use of worm leachate in order to achieve an adequate crop yield decreasing the use of synthetic, seeking to provide an agroecological solution to producers for the fertilization of their cassava crops without significantly interfering with the economic, social and environmental components of the production unit.