Abstract
A produção de mudas é um ponto crítico do sistema de produção de hortaliças. Devido a informações sobre o consumo de água pelas mudas, o planejamento da irrigação se torna ineficiente, fato que provoca perdas na qualidade das mudas. O objetivo do experimento foi testar o uso de hidrogel no substrato e determinar o manejo de irrigação adequado através de ferramentas de automatização do sistema de irrigação. O experimento foi conduzido em ambiente protegido na Universidade Federal de Viçosa. Foram produzidas mudas de tomate (Solanum lycopersicom) em bandejas de polietileno, preenchidas com substrato com e sem a presença de hidrogel. As mudas foram irrigadas com sistema de microaspersão, acionado a partir de um sistema automatizado. Os tratamentos de manejo de irrigação foram através da evapotranspiração da cultura (ETc), timer, 0.50 ETo e 1,00 ETo. Foram avaliados componentes de qualidade das mudas como altura, comprimento de raiz, diâmetro de colo, massa seca de raiz e parte aérea. O uso do hidrogel foi um diferencial para produção de mudas de tomate mais precoces, com maior altura final, maior diâmetro de colo, maior acúmulo de massa seca de parte aérea, maior área de projeção da copa e maior a taxa de crescimento relativo de parte aérea. Na presença do hidrogel o manejo 0.50 ETo favoreceu maiores plantas, com colo mais fino e menor massa seca de parte aérea.
Highlights
Seedling production is an important stage, since good quality seedlings better express their genetic potential, and directly affect the plant yield.Environments used for seedling production usually shelter different crops, and water management is standardized for all crops because of the practical difficulties of applying different water regimes for each crop (REGHIN et al, 2007).Appropriate water managements promote seedling development and water saving, since only the amount of water required by the plants is applied
The use of the hydrogel for the production of tomato seedlings resulted in seedlings with higher final heights, larger stem base diameter, greater shoot dry weight, larger crown area projection, and greater shoot relative growth rate
The use of practices for water use efficiency through the application of appropriate irrigation depths and frequency are essential for the success of irrigated agriculture
Summary
Environments used for seedling production usually shelter different crops, and water management is standardized for all crops because of the practical difficulties of applying different water regimes for each crop (REGHIN et al, 2007). Appropriate water managements promote seedling development and water saving, since only the amount of water required by the plants is applied. The use of practices for water use efficiency through the application of appropriate irrigation depths and frequency are essential for the success of irrigated agriculture (VALNIR JÚNIOR et al, 2017). The use of automated irrigation systems optimizes the use of water resources for agricultural production. These systems can be important tools to avoid application of excessive irrigation depths and reduce labor costs.
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