Growth behavior of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) seedlings planted at nurseries with different substrate volumes

The increasing demand for cocoa crops requires high quality plant production. Plants grown in containers or pots have limited nursery survival. The space for root growth and sustrate volume in cacao seedlings in a nursery were tested using diverse plastic containers: tubete (0.4 L), bag (1.6 L) and...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores Principales: Gutiérrez R., Mauricio, Gómez S., Raul, Rodríguez L., Nelson Facundo
Formato: Artículo (Article)
Lenguaje:Español (Spanish)
Publicado: Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria (Agrosavia) 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12324/33875
Descripción
Sumario:The increasing demand for cocoa crops requires high quality plant production. Plants grown in containers or pots have limited nursery survival. The space for root growth and sustrate volume in cacao seedlings in a nursery were tested using diverse plastic containers: tubete (0.4 L), bag (1.6 L) and bucket (3.0 L), the treatments were distributed in a completely random experimental design. Leaf number, width, length; stem and root length; plant height; stem diameter; leaf, stem, root and total fresh weight were evaluated. The cocoa seedlings observed were significantly affected (P≤0.05) by the restriction of space and volume in the root growth area. The highest growth restriction was in the tubete, where container substrate volume is only 1 kg compared with the bag/3 kg and the bucket/5 kg. The development of seedlings grown in tubete was normal until 60 days compared with the bag and the bucket. Abnormal plant growth occurred in the bucket at 120 days and the bag at 90 days.