Agroecological Assessment of Different Cultural Practices of Pineapple, Ananas comosus, (Linn) Mer. (Var. Red Spanish) for Sustainable Fiber Production in Geo-Textile Industry in Balete, Aklan

Abstract

Pineapple fiber offers a promising contribution in the developing geo-textile industry in Balete, Aklan. To support this initiative, a study was conducted to assess the different agroecological production systems of Ananas comosus var. Red Spanish for fiber production and determine the biomass production, fiber yield, and fiber recovery of Red Spanish grown under different agroecological production systems. Five study sites were selected with varying socio-cultural management systems which included a) intensive pineapple monoculture; b) traditional pineapple monoculture; c) pineapple-rambutan-gmelina; d) pineapple-rambutan-banana and e) pineapple-indigenous trees. Results showed that the pineapple planted underneath the indigenous trees significantly (p≤0.05) produced lower biomass but higher fiber yield (p≤0.05) as compared to the other four production systems studied. It was found out that there was a significant correlation (r=0.93) between leaf weight, length, and fiber yield. However, no significant difference on fiber recovery was observed between study sites. On the other hand, pineapple-indigenous trees agroecological system had higher NPK contents compared to those in the other study sites. Therefore, integrating the pineapple with indigenous trees is the most sustainable production system since this will lead to better soil fertility and provide optimum fiber yield.