Abstract
The technical aspects that involve the production of seedlings should be well studied to reduce the mistakes made in this phase. The present work aimed to evaluate biomass production, gas exchange and nutrient accumulation in papaya seedlings grown on substrates from organic residues, with or without the addition of green coconut shell biochar. The work was conducted in a greenhouse at the Federal University of Ceará, in Fortaleza, CE, Brazil. The experimental design adopted was completely randomized, consisting of eight treatments and four repetitions, with ten plants per repetition. The eight treatments comprised the substrates: composting sewage sludge, composting green coconut shell, composting carnauba bagana, commercial substrate Turfa Fértil®, composting sludge + biochar, composting green coconut shell + biochar, composting bagana + biochar and commercial substrate + biochar. Biometric analyzes, gas exchange and accumulation of mineral elements were performed. Papaya seedlings showed higher quality when they were grown with sewage sludge, sludge + biochar and bagana + biochar, while the commercial substrate was not efficient, leading to a lower result for all variables. The addition of biochar was beneficial in all treatments in which it was used.
Highlights
The papaya tree (Carica papaya L.) is a native fruit of the tropical regions, has a fast production, being frequent throughout the year
The present work aimed to evaluate biomass production, gas exchange and nutrient accumulation in papaya seedlings grown on substrates from organic residues, with or without the addition of green coconut shell biochar
It is a widespread crop in Brazil, especially in the Northeast, contributing economically and socially due to the large volume of production (Sá et al, 2013), since in the year 2018 this region accounted for more than 50% of the national papaya production, with about one million tons having been produced in Brazil (IBGE, 2020)
Summary
The papaya tree (Carica papaya L.) is a native fruit of the tropical regions, has a fast production, being frequent throughout the year. The technical aspects that involve the production of seedlings, such as the use of substrates for example, must be well studied, since there are numerous commercial substrates available, they are expensive and increase production costs. In this sense, sustainable alternatives for the production of new substrates have been sought, such as the reuse of waste aiming to recycle nutrients and decrease production costs, besides mitigating negative environmental impacts (Araújo et al, 2017). The use of plant and animal wastes promote improvements in the chemical composition of substrates, since the decomposition of these materials provides the release of nutrients that were previously contained in the waste (Matias et al, 2019)
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