Emergence and initial growth of seedlings of Rollinia mucosa (Jacq.) Baill (Annonaceae) in different substrates

Abstract

This research aimed to evaluate the influence of different substrates on emergence and initial growth of Rollinia mucosa seedlings. The seeds were scarified in the opposite side of micropylar region and sown in four different substrates: washed sand (T1), vermiculite (T2), bioplant® (T3), plantmax® (T4), washed sand + vermiculite 1:1 (T5), washed sand + bioplant® 1:1 (T6), washed sand + plantmax® 1:1 (T7), washed sand + vermiculite 3:1 (T8), washed sand + bioplant® 3:1 (T9) and washed sand + plantmax® 3:1 (T10). The emergence percentage, the emergence speed index and growth of the seedlings (length and dry mass of root and aerial part) were evaluated. The experimental design was completely randomized with ten treatments and four replications of 25 seeds. The data were submitted to analyses of variance and the averages were compared by the Tukey test. In relation to the emergence percentage and emergence speed index, it was observed that the commercial substrates had presented the lower values, alone or in combination with other substrates and that the sand + vermiculite substrate provided  the best results. In general terms, the four substrata evaluated, isolated or in combination, presented no differences for the seedling growth during the 75 days of evaluation.