Potassium fertilization in pineapple fruit quality

Abstract Potassium is a mineral nutrient that affects the growth and quality of pineapple fruits. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of ‘Vitória’ pineapple fruits submitted to application of potassium doses. The experiment was carried out from May 2017 to November 2018, in the municipality of São Francisco do Itabapoana (RJ), Brazil. The design was randomized blocks, with four replicates. Treatments were five K2O doses: 0; 6; 12; 18 and 24 g plant-1, applied as KCl, split into two applications after flower induction. Fruit and crown fresh masses, fruit and crown diameters, fruit and crown lengths, titratable acidity, soluble solids, vitamin C, juice pH and soluble solids/titratable acidity ratio were evaluated. Potassium fertilization promoted greater fruit length, diameter and mass. Titratable acidity, soluble solids and vitamin C values increased linearly as a function of potassium doses. Potassium fertilization improves the quality of ‘Vitória’ pineapple fruits under field conditions.