The study was conducted at the Federal University of Paraíba, Areia, from January to June 2013 to evaluate fruit yield of gherkin fertilized with manure and biofertilizer in a randomized block design in a 5 x 2 factorial, with the factors five doses of cattle manure (0, 15, 30, 45 and 60 t ha - 1) and presence or absence of biofertilizer in the soil. Levels of 26.3 and 27.7 t ha-1 of cattle manure yielded the maximum commercial productivity of gherkin fruits (12.4 and 10.0 t ha-1 respectively) with and without biofertilizer. The cattle manure level yielding the maximum production of fruits in the presence of biofertilizer correlated with 18.6 g dm-3 of residual organic matter in the soil, while without biofertilizer the correlation was with 20.0 g dm-3. The maximum content of N, P and K in the leaves of the gherkin plants were 46.4, 3.7 and 26.0 g kg-1 with level of 60, 29.6 and 60.0 t ha-1 of cattle manure respectively with added biofertilizer. Plants without application of biofertilizer showed N, P and K content in leaf of 40.0, 3.0 and 20.0 g kg-1 with levels of 60.0, 29.6 and 60.0 t ha-1 of cattle manures, respectively.
Cucumis anguria L.; organic fertilizer; fruit production; residual organic matter
