EFFECTS OF SOIL WATER AVAILABILITY AND ORGANIC MATTER CONTENT ON FRUIT YIELD AND SEED OIL CONTENT OF CASTOR BEAN1

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to assess the sensitivity of the castor bean cultivar “BRS 188 Paraguaçu” to available soil water for plants and soil organic matter content based on their effects on fruit yield and seed oil content. A 2 × 4 factorial experiment was conducted from October 2008 to March 2009 under field conditions using randomized complete block design; two soil organic matter contents (5.0 and 25.0 g·kg−1) and four available soil water levels for plants at the irrigation time (70, 80, 90, and 100% of the total available soil water) with three replicates were t...