Balance energético en el cultivo de pitahaya (Hylocereus undatus (Haw.) Britton y Rose) en dos localidades de la zona sur de Manabí

Abstract

The energy balance is essential for analyzing energy inputs and outputs in agriculture, which provides valuable information for evaluating the ecological sustainability of production. The objective was to calculate the energy balance in the production cycle of pitahaya (Hylocereus undatus (Haw.) Britton and Rose) in southern Manabí, Two farms were evaluated: La Abundancia (LA, Santa Ana) and Santa Rosa (SR, May 24). To determine the direct (fuel, labor) and indirect (seeds, fertilizers, insecticides, machinery) input and output (harvested biomass) energy parameters, field data sheets and structured interviews with farm managers were used. For the analysis of energy inputs and outputs, descriptive statistics were used through flow diagrams using Microsoft Visio 2023 software. For the energy input and output parameters, equations were used, which were calculated and analyzed using Excel spreadsheets. In both farms nine activities related to pitahaya management were identified; for (LA, Santa Ana) ten input parameters and one output parameter were recorded, while in (SR, 24 May) 11 input parameters and one output parameter were identified. The energy input totals showed that (SR, 24 May) had a higher energy expenditure with 329 341.86, compared to (LA, Santa Ana) which presented 205 942.47MJ/ha. In terms of energy expenditure, (LA, Santa Ana), reached a harvested biomass of 3 876,000 MJ/ha, while (SR, 24 May) reached 13 566,000 MJ/ha. The energy balance of the pitahaya crop in both farms reveals a positive situation, where the energy costs associated with the various crop management parameters are lower than the harvested fruit biomass.