Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of water saturation upon initial seedling growth of four tree species. Tested species included Cordia ecalyculata Vell. (café-de-bugre), Colubrina glandulosa Perk. (sobrasil), Croton urucurana Baill. (sanga-dágua), and Hovenia dulcis (uva-japonesa). The study was conducted as a complete randomized block design composed by seedling of 4 species, 3 lengths of seedling growth (180, 150, and 120 days after transplanting to seedling container), 2 container sizes (300 and 180 cm3), and 2 root growth conditions (with and without water saturation for 60 days). Sobrasil seedlings expressed the highest increment in root collar. The highest increments in height were measure in uva-do-japão (19.74 cm) and sanga-d’água (20,02 cm) seedlings under saturated root condition. Under saturation condition seedlings of sobrasil and café-de-bugre reduced their root dry weight while seedlings of sanga-d’água and uva-japonesa increased root mass. Seedlings grown in 300 cm3 containers yielded higher increment of leaf dry weight than seedlings grown in 180 cm3 containers.
Key words
root restriction; water logging; container size