USO DE FOLHAS DE CASTANHOLEIRA (Terminalia catappa Linn) COMO RECIPIENTES PARA PRODUÇÃO DE MUDAS

The use of plastic bags in the production of seedlings is widespread, mainly due to the lower acquisition cost, which makes it very accessible to small producers. In addition, they have other advantages, allowing good water retention and good development of the root system. However, great environmental impacts have been caused due to the incorrect disposal of plastic containers used in the production of seedlings. In this sense, the present work aimed to evaluate the technical feasibility of using biodegradable containers made with leaves of the castanet tree ( Terminalia catappa Linn) to replace plastic bags in the production of pumpkin seedlings. The experiment was carried out in a protected environment (screen with 50% shading mesh), from February to April 2022, in the experimental area of the State University of Piauí, under a completely randomized statistical design (DIC), with treatments being composed of two containers (plastic bags and castanets leaves), evaluated in 5 sample plots with 10 replications each. At 28 days after emergence (DAE), the biometric variables, plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves and root length were evaluated. From the results, it was found that the pumpkin seedlings developed under the containers made with castanets leaves, showed similar behavior regarding the biometric parameters (stem diameter, number of leaves and root length). Thus, it can be inferred that the use of castanets leaves can be used as an alternative to replace the use of plastic bags in the production of pumpkin seedlings.