Production of pre-sprouted sugarcane seedlings using carnauba bagana as substrate1

Sugarcane seedling quality is strongly influenced by the substrate used. Currently, alternative substrate sources from the sugarcane industry itself have been used; however, there is no specific substrate to produce pre-sprouted seedlings. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of pre-sprouted sugarcane using substrates with different proportions of carnauba bagana (0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 %) plus soil. The experimental design was completely randomized, with six treatments and five replicates. Pre-sprouted seedlings cultivated using substrate composed by 80 % of carnauba bagana showed the best response for number of leaves, diameter, shoot length, shoot, root and total dry mass, and Dickson Quality Index, owing to the improvement in the substrate physical and chemical characteristics.