Manejo da densidade de plantas durante a produção de mudas em viveiro

Abstract

The objective of the study was to optimize the seedling density during the seedling production. To do so, the experiment was conducted through the production of seedlings of a hybrid of Eucalyptus urophylla x Eucalyptus grandis, comprising seven treatments and four replicates of 70 plants per plot. Each treatment consisted of reducing the density of seedlings in the plot in half at different times during the production process. The seedlings were produced in polypropylene tubes with 55 cm³ of volumetric capacity. Density reductions were performed at 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 105 or 120 days after sowing. In order to obtain subsidies to optimize the plant density management during the seedling production, leaf area index determinations were conducted at 100 days after sowing, and plant height, stem diameter, height/diameter, shoot dry mass, dry mass of roots, total dry mass, dry mass ratio of shoot/root dry mass and Dickson quality index of 20 plants per plot were evaluated at the end of the production cycle at 120 days. Based on the results, it is verified that the reduction of density at different times changes the growth characteristics of the seedlings, and considering a 120-day production cycle, it is recommended to reduce the density by half between 60 and 75 days after sowing, since for all characteristics evaluated, this was the time interval that provided better characteristics to the seedlings produced.