Hortfértil: spreadsheets for the interpretation of soil analysis and fertilization recommendation for vegetables

Abstract

The development of an electronic spreadsheet aimed at recommending fertilization will make it possible to work with the data in a technically correct way, with greater simplicity and speed. In this context, the present work aimed to develop a set of electronic spreadsheets to recommend organic and mineral fertilizers for vegetables of socioeconomic importance in the State of Maranhão. The set of worksheets, called Hortfértil, was created using Microsoft Excel, due to its ability to work with numerical operations, and to be able to apply functions for data modeling. Hortfértil recommends correctives and fertilizers for crops: green corn, okra, green beans, watermelon, chives, coriander, lettuce and kale. For each crop, two spreadsheets were created, one for calculation (not visible to the user) and one for presentation, where the user enters the name of the producer, the crop spacing, the size of the area to be cultivated, the PRNT of the limestone to be used, chooses the fertilizers and outputs the recommended values. The spreadsheets make the recommendation for two years of cultivation as a function of the percentage of mineralization over time. To calculate the fertilizer recommendation, the 'Solver' tool was used to find the best combination of fertilizers according to the crop's requirements. At the end of the fertilization recommendation process, the result can be printed or saved in PDF on the desktop. Hortfértil presents itself as a promising tool in the recommendation of organic and mineral fertilization for vegetables. Due to its operating complexity, it requires a long period of evaluation and experimentation in order to prove its applicability and efficiency in the recommendation of fertilizers.