Initial growth of moringa submitted to different substrate compositions and irrigation regimes - DOI: 10.7127/rbai.v1701281

Resumo

Water deficiency is a limiting factor of greater significance in the survival and initial growth of plants. Moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam) is a fast-growing plant originating in India, which adapts easily to the edaphoclimatic conditions of northeastern Brazil. However, information on the production of seedlings of this species is still scarce under different substrate compositions associated with irrigation regimes. Thus, the objective of this work was to characterize the vegetative behavior of moringa plants submitted to different compositions of substrates and irrigation regimes. The experiment was carried out in a screened environment (50% mesh), from September to October 2020, in the experimental area of the State University of Piauí, Campus Cerrado do Alto Parnaíba, Uruçuí. An experimental design in a factorial scheme was adopted, the first factor being two irrigation regimes (50% and 100% of ETo) and the second factor, five types of substrates (SB1 = red latosol; SB2 = commercial substrate; SB3 = soil + manure; SB4 = soil + vegetable ash; SB5 = soil + coffee grounds), with 5 replicates. At 45 days after sowing, the following variables were analyzed: plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves, leaf area and total dry phytomass (leaf, stem and root). The initial growth parameters of the moringa crop were significantly affected by the interaction between the factors (irrigation regimes x substrates), with the best results obtained for the substrate compositions (commercial, red latosol, soil + coffee grounds and soil + manure), by applying the water regime concerning the availability of 100% of the reference evapotranspiration.