Growth and quality of Eucalyptus urophylla S.T. seedlings Blake X Eucalyptus grandis Hill (ex Maiden) in different containers

Abstract

An experiment was carried out to study the quality and the development of Eucalyptus urophylla x Eucalyptus grandis seedlings at different ages in nursery and produced (grown) in different sized polypropylene tubes, aiming to determinate the optimum age and size tube to dispatch the seedlings to the field. A mixture of manure bovine, subsoil and carbonized rice husk, in the proportion of 2:1:1. It was utilized tubes of 55, 100 and 200 cm³. The experimental plan was entirely randomized design with 15 treatments, on factorial 3 (tubes) x 5 (age) and 100 plants each, totaling 1500 individuals. The plants were measured if different ages: 90, 120, 150, 180 and 210 days. The following variables was measured in each seedling and age: height, stem diameter, roots dry biomass, shoot dry biomass, total biomass, secondary roots number and Dickson quality index. Results were compared by the analysis of variance (ANOVA), and the averages were compared by Tukey’s test in a 5% probability. At 90 days of age, there were no significant differences between the treatments for most variables. At 180 days of age, there were significant differences for all analyzed variables. It was concluded that the optimum age to dispatch the seedlings produced in 55 cm³ tubes is 90 days of age, 150 days of age to seedlings produced in 100 cm³ tubes and 180 days of age to seedling produced in 200 cm³ tubes.