Sources and splitting of the organic fertilization in top dressing in cabbage production

Although there exist researches about fertilization in top dressing in the production of cabbage, these are usually made with inorganic fertilizers, being rare the researches with organic fertilization in top dressing in the production of most vegetables. The objective was to evaluate the effect of different splitting of two organic fertilizers in top dressing in the production of cabbage. Six treatments were evaluated, with four replications in randomized block design. The six treatments were the result of the factorial 3x2, with three types of splitting (1/3+1/3+1/3; 4/6+1/6+1/6; 1/6+4/6+1/6 of the total dose in each application) and two organic fertilizers (castor bean cake and organic compost). The total dose of each fertilizer was calculated to apply 120 kg ha-1 N. The evaluated characteristics were number of external leaves, fresh weight of external leaves (g), fresh and dry head weight (g), head diameter (cm) and length (cm), yield and crop cycle (days after transplanting). Fertilization with castor bean cake resulted in greater yield, producing heads with higher weight, diameter and length in relation to the organic compost, besides reducing the cycle. The 4/6+1/6+1/6 splitting was better than the 1/6+4/6+1/6 splitting using castor bean cake.