Biometric characteristics of Gurguéia nut seedlings as a function of liming and NPK

Abstract

Gurguéia nut (Dipteryx lacunifera Ducke), also known as “fava-de-morcego” and “garampara” is a plant that belongs to leguminosae family, found in the Midle-North region of Brazil. It is explored as handwork, demanding among other requirements, research related to plant nutrition for the seedling production. In this sense an experiment was conducted to evaluate biometric characteristics in the seedling production of Gurguéia nut, submitted to doses of N and substrate with and without lime and PK. These actions were developed in Bom Jesus County, Piaui State, Brazil. It was used a randomized block experiment with treatments distributed in a factorial arrangement 5x2, referring to doses of nitrogen and substrate treatment, respectively, with four replications of three plant each one. Nitrogen doses tested were 0; 75; 150; 225 and 300 mg dm-3 of soil. The biometric characteristics were evaluated: plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves, shoot fresh mass, fresh root dry mass, root dry mass, root volume and root length. There was influence of nitrogen doses on seedling production. Substrate treatment positively influenced leaf number and shoot fresh dry mass. For seedling production in no treated substrate no nitrogen fertilizing is needed, while for treated substrate it is recommend a 75 mg dm-3 dose.