Initial growth of Sapindus saponária seedlings with the use of hydrogel and water slides

Abstract

Although forest seedling production techniques are well consolidated, there is a constant search for management alternatives that provide better quality to the seedlings. Among these, the addition of water-retaining polymers has been highlighted in order to increase the water retention capacity in the soil for the seedlings, providing better quality and greater survival in the field. This study aimed to gather information about the species and investigate the effect of hydrogel associated with different water depths on the initial growth of Sapindus saponária. The study was conducted in the experimental field of the University of the State of Mato Grosso (UNEMAT) Campus de Cáceres-MT. The design used was completely randomized in a factorial scheme, with two conditions (absence and presence of hydrogel) and four water depths (8,10,12 and 14 mm.day-1) with four replications and three plants per experimental unit. The evaluations were carried out 120 days after sowing, where the following characteristics were verified: plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves, in addition to dry mass and fresh mass of shoot and root and Dickson quality index (IQD). Sapindus saponária seedlings showed better development when subjected to the presence of the hydrogel, showing significance for all analyzed variables. On the other hand, the different water depths did not show promising results, standing out significantly only for the variable number of leaves. In general, the results obtained regarding the use of water-retaining polymers confirm the information that the addition of hydrogels to the substrate optimizes water availability, accelerating plant development and resulting in better quality seedlings.