Crescimento e fisiologia de plantas jovens de dendezeiro cultivadas com suprimentos de água e praticas corretivas.

Abstract

The production of seedlings is an essential phase for the success of plants under field conditions, especially for oil palm plantations at growth in the Amazon. The lack of water and the high acidity of tropical soils are limiting conditions to plant growth, requiring management techniques to overcome such factors. Soil corrective practices have provided positive results in several cultivated species, indicating the improvement of the root environment and promoting gains in growth, biomass and productivity, in addition to greater tolerance to water stress conditions. In this sense, the current study aimed to evaluate the effect of water supply, associated with soil corrective practices, on the growth and physiology of oil palm seedlings. The experiment was conducted, between February and May 2021, in a greenhouse at the Federal Rural University of Amazônia, municipality of Capitão Poço, Pará State (Brazil). A completely randomized design was used, with three replications, in a 2 x 4 factorial: two water blades (50 and 100 % of evapotranspiration) and four conditions of soil corrective practices (omission, liming, gypsum and association of liming and gypsum). Plants responses were measured from growth, water status, gas exchange and chlorophyll a fluorescence. Oil palm seedlings showed higher growth rates and higher water content when subjected to a water blade of 100 %, however there was still no response to soil corrective practices. For gas exchange and chlorophyll a fluorescence, there were no responses to studied factors. Thus, in this initial evaluation phase, the oil palm seedlings were more sensitive to water supply, but not to correction of soil acidity.