Carbonized rice husk as an alternative substrate for ocimum basilicum l. seedling production

Abstract

The substrate used in seedling production plays a major role in the initial plant development. In this sense, the objective was to evaluate the emergence capacity and establishment of basil seedlings in different proportions of alternative substrates based on charred rice husk and commercial substrate S10®. The experiment was carried out in expanded polyethylene trays, using basil seeds (Horticeres seeds®), which lasted 28 days. The experimental design was completely randomized, with five treatments (T1: 100 % commercial substrate (BCS); T2: 80 % BCS + 20 % Charred rice husk (CRH); T3: 60 % BCS + 40 % CRH; T4: 40 % BCS + 60 % CRH; T5: 20 % BCS + 80 % CRH) and three repetitions. Were evaluated leaf number, shoot length, root length, root dry mass, shoot dry mass, leaf area, germination, germination speed index, substrate physical analysis (density (dry and wet)), total porosity and aeration space, and chemical analysis (hydrogen potential (PH), and electrical conductivity (EC)). It was observed in the results that the substrate type interferes in the development and quality of the basil seedling. In the shoot lenght parameter, the treatment with 40 % BCS + 60 % CRH (T4) had a significant difference compared to the other treatments. Among the substrates, the best seedling performance was observed in the substrate with 80 % BCS + 20 % CRH (T2), which provided better seedling quality in relation to the other treatments.