INFLUÊNCIA DA TORTA DE ALGODÃO NA QUALIDADE DE MUDAS DE Acacia mangium

Abstract

The substrate for the production of forest seedlings is one of the factors that most burdens the process, therefore, it is necessary to look for alternative means, which guarantee the reduction of expenses and provide the necessary quality to the seedlings. From this perspective, cotton pie can be a viable alternative in the composition of substrates. The objective of this work was to determine the ideal proportion of cotton pie added to commercial substrate for the quality of Acacia mangium seedlings.. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse at the Instituto Federal Goiano – Campus Posse. A completely randomized experimental design was adopted, in a factorial scheme (5x4), with 5 treatments (addition of cotton pie to commercial substrate in proportions of 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100%) with four replications consisting of 10 replicates. At the end of the experiment, 90 days after emergence, the morphological characteristics were evaluated, namely: number of phyllodes, total chlorophyll, height of the aerial part, diameter of the stem, dry matter mass of the aerial part, dry matter mass of roots, total dry matter mass, ratio of shoot height to root diameter, ratio of shoot dry matter to root dry matter mass, and Dickson Quality Index. Under the conditions under which the experiment was conducted, it was found that the treatment consisting of 50% cotton cake and 50% commercial substrate showed higher averages in number of phyllodes, plant height, stem diameter, shoot height ratio and diameter of the collection, dry matter mass of the aerial part, total dry matter mass and ratio of dry matter mass of the aerial part and dry matter mass of the roots. Given the results obtained, including the Dickson Quality Index, it was found that the 50% treatment provided greater morphological quality of Acacia mangium seedlings.