Morphological performance of begonia (Begonia cucullata willd.) under different levels of light intensity

Abstract

The Non-Conventional Food Plants (PANC), every day, have been gaining space in the daily diet. There are several plant species that have other uses, besides the edible, which is the case of Begonia (Begonia cucullata Willd.) which is also ornamental, however, the objective of this work was to evaluate the morphological development of begonia under different levels of light intensity. The work was conducted in the experimental garden of the Federal University of Acre in 2019, the begonia was propagated through cuttings and taken to 4-liter pots. The experimental design adopted was completely randomized (DIC). The plants were randomly organized into five treatments with six replications each, distributed as follows: T1 - Full sun (control treatment), T2 - 30% shading, T3 - 50% shading, T4 - 75% shading. Number of leaves (NF), number of lateral branches (NRL), stem diameter (DC), plant height (AP) and number of inflorescences (NI) were evaluated. Data were compared by Tukey test (p>0.05) and by regression analysis, processed by AgroEstat. There was a significant difference for the variables NRL, AP and NI, except for NF and DC. The 50% treatment favors the morphological characteristics of begonia.