Brassinosteroid and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in the production of rootstock ‘Cleopatra’

Abstract

The brassinosteroid belong to the class of plant hormone with diverse effects on plant physiology, including effects on growth and nutritional status. Allied to this substance, inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi can enhance growth and nutrient uptake in plants grown in containers. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of brassinosteroid and inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on growth and nutritional status of Citrus reshni (‘Cleopatra’) at the stage of transplanting the tubes to pots. The experiment was conducted in a randomized block design in a 5 x 2 factorial arrangement with five doses of brassinosteroid (0.0; 0.1; 0.5; 0.75 and 1.00 mg L-1) and two AMF of treatments (without inoculation and inoculated with Acaulospora scrobiculata Trappe) with four replications. We evaluated the growth (height, number of leaves and stem diameter) every 20 days after transplanting of seedlings and at the end of the experiment (130 days after transplant) was assessed leaf area, shoot dry matter of roots and nutritional status of the plants. The brassinosteroid provided no effect on the characteristics of seedling growth. Inoculation with A. scrobiculata increased the height, number of leaves, the content and the content of Fe and Mn in the leaf dry weight of ‘Cleopatra’.