Cultivation and Nutritional Quality of Moringa Oleifera Lam. Produced Under Different Substrates in Semi-Arid Region in Northeast Brazil

Abstract

The Moringa oleifera Lam. it is a perennial, arboreal species, rapidly growing, resistant to drought and with leaves, flowers and edible fruits. With this research the objective to evaluate the effect of different substrates in the emergence and development of seedlings of Moringa. The experiment was carried out at the Plant Ecology Laboratory of the Department of Phytotechnics and Environmental Sciences, at the Center for Agricultural Sciences, at the Federal University of Paraíba. The experimental desing was completely randomized, with eight treatments T1= sand washed (control), T2= sand + coconut fiber, T3= sand + rice bark, T4= sand + bovine manure, T5= sand + pine powder, T6= sand + chicken manure, T7= sand + vegetable ash and T8= quail, with four repetitions of 25 seeds totaling 100 seeds for each treatment. The substrates were used in proportion 3:1, and these proportions were determined in terms of weight and all the sieved substrates, arranged in 6 cm x 29.5 cm x 45.5 cm trays, with an approximate capacity of 7 liters of substrate. The following parameters were evaluated: the emergence percentage, first count, emergence speed index, seedling height, plant height, root length, number of leaves, dry leaf biomass, stalk, root and total. The germination and initial development of M. oleífera seedlings were satisfactory in sand and favored when fibrous materials of vegetable origin (coconut fiber, rice bark or pine powder) or bovine manure were added to the substrate. The addition of manure sand from birds (chicken and quails) and vegetable ash did not favor the substrate for germination of Moringa oleifera Lam. seeds.