Volume de substrato e idade: influência no desempenho de mudas clonais de eucalipto após replantio

Abstract

Rapid early growth of tree seedlings is critical for the forest plantation success. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of age and substrate volume on the clonal eucalypt seedlings performance after replanting. The experiment was conducted in randomized blocks with ten replications in a 2 x 4 factorial arrangement (clonal seedlings grown in tubes of 53 and 180 cm³ and four ages - 60, 75, 90 and 120 days) in a 3 x 3,33 m spacing. As an additional treatment, it was evaluated plants of a commercial plantation, settled 20 days before the experiment. Seedling replanting with higher substrate volume provided better initial growth in the field. However, at 12 months of age, replanting seedling growth was not influenced by age or by the amount of substrate used for seedling production.