Environment and slow-release fertilizer in the production of Euterpe precatoria seedlings

Abstract

Euterpe precatoria Mart. has been demanded due to the functional characteristics of its fruits and, therefore, its planting has been encouraged. However, there is a lack of information about the seedling production system of this palm tree. Neither a favorable environment nor the amount of fertilizer in the substrate have been defined for the production of healthy and vigorous seedlings. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of environments and doses of a slow-release fertilizer on the production of E. precatoria seedlings. The experiment was conducted in a randomized block design, with three replications and ten plants per plot. The treatments were arranged in a 4 x 5 factorial scheme, with four environments (under shading levels of 20 %, 30 %, 50 % and 75 %) and five doses of a slow-release fertilizer (0.0 kg m-3, 2.5 kg m-3, 5.0 kg m-3, 7.5 kg m-3 and 10.0 kg m-3 of substrate). The seedling height; root collar diameter; number of leaves; leaf, shoot, root and total dry mass; and the Dickson quality index were analyzed. There were significant interactions between the shaded environments and slow-release fertilizer doses for all the analyzed variables. The 75 %-shaded environment yielded better quality seedlings. The slow-release fertilizer can be used to produce E. precatoria seedlings in environments under shading levels of 50 % and 75 %, being the 4.60 kg m-3 and 8 kg m-3 doses, respectively, the most recommended ones.

Controlled-release fertilizer increases growth, chlorophyll content and overall quality of loquat seedlings

“…In the present study, the root collar diameter of the loquat seedlings increased linearly in response to the doses of the controlled-release fertilizer, with an increment of 16.7% on the seedlings treated with 10 kg m -³ in comparison to the control group (Figure 1b). among others (Freitas et al, 2011;Rossa et al, 2011;Gomes et al, 2017a;2017b;Almeida et al, 2018). Biomass accumulation is an important feature because it reflects the carbon status of a developing seedling, affecting and being affected by the capacity of capture of light, nutrients and water (Modrzyński et al, 2015).…”

“…For most of cultivated forest and fruit tree species, the enrichment of substrates with addition of mineral fertilization represents a well-established practice for seedling formation (Ceconi et al, 2007). Since those species usually require long periods for seedling formation (more than 8 months), substrate fertilization is preferably performed in split applications, which, despite being more adequate for plant development, requires more time, labor and equipment, therefore increasing the production cost (Almeida et al, 2018).…”

“…The use of controlled-release fertilizers has been studied and is recommended for the production of seedlings of several forest trees and fruit crop species (Mendonça et al, 2007;Serrano et al, 2010;Freitas et al, 2011;Rossa et al, 2011;Almeida et al, 2018;Rosa et al, 2018). However, the use of this technology, to the best of our knowledge, has never been reported on the production of loquat tree seedlings.…”

Sugar apple seedling production as a function of substrates and slow-release fertilizer

“…Efficiency in the use of the fertilizer Osmocote ® has been observed in many crops, including pineapple (Freitas et al, 2011), acai palm (Almeida et al, 2018) and…”

CONTROLLED RELEASE FERTILIZER IN THE ROOTING AND PERFORMANCE OF CLONES OF Paratecoma peroba

“…The literature shows that seedlings of forest species propagated by seeds are very responsive to CRF, such as Cedrela fissilis (Navroski et al, 2016); Anadenanthera peregrina, Schinus terebinthifolius (Rossa et al, 2015); Peltophorum dubium (Dutra et al, 2017) e Euterpe precatoria (Almeida et al, 2018). CRFs are believed to be able to achieve better results than highly soluble granular fertilizers in the cultivation of minicuttings plants, releasing nutrients gradually as the root system is formed.…”