Fertilization in the production of seedlings of 'japanese' quince tree

The objective of the present work was to verify the effect of the fertilizations by covering and slow liberation, on the growth of seedlings of the 'Japanese' quince tree. Seeds of the 'Japanese' underwent cold-humid stratification for 30 days and were then dispersed in polystyrene trays of 72 cells (cells with capacity of 120 cm(3), one seed for cell), containing thin granule Vermiculite (R) as substrate. In the first experiment, we added to Vermiculite (R) different doses of the fertilizer of slow liberation Basacot (R) (15-8-12): 0, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 kg m(-3) of substrate. In the second experiment, the seeds were dispersed in similar trays and filled with Vermiculite (R); after 30 days, fertilizations was accomplished by covering with nitrogen in the form of urea (45% N), through irrigation water: 0, 300, 600, 900, 1200 and 1500 mg dm(-3). The applications were parceled out in twice, in intervals of 10 days, and in each application, 10 mL of solution were added in each cell. The trays were kept under shading sieve (50% shading), being irrigated periodically. 60 days after seeding, the emergency percentage, the average length of the seedlings, average number of leaves, shoot dry matter and total seedlings were evaluated. It was concluded that adding 9 kg of Basacot (R) to each m(-3) of Vermiculite (R) favored the best development of the seedlings.