Influence of fertilizer and hydrogel on physical-chemical attributes of substrate for seedling production

Abstract

The incorporation of the hydrogel into the substrate used in the forest nursery promotes improvements in its physical-chemical attributes. However, several factors influence the hydrogel efficiency, such as the increase of salts, promoted by fertilizer of the substrate. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of the incorporation of fertilizer levels and hydrogel doses on the physical-chemical attributes of a substrate to produce forest seedlings. Different levels of basic fertilizer commonly used in the nursery (100%, 50% and 0%) and different doses of the hydrogel (0, 1, 2 and 3 g L-1) were incorporated into the substrate Tropstrato Florestal®, consisting of 12 treatments in a 3 x 4 factorial scheme. A sample of the substrate in each treatment was sent for analysis of its physical and chemical attributes. To evaluate the effect of the treatments on the physical-chemical attributes of the substrate, was used the multivariate principal components analyses. The levels of fertilizer and hydrogel doses were correlated with the attributes of the substrates obtained in each treatment. The incorporation of different fertilizer levels and hydrogel doses to the substrate modified their chemical and physical attributes. Fertilizers have influenced mainly the chemical attributes of the substrate, whereas hydrogels have influenced the physical attributes, mainly those related to water retention capacity and availability.