Rhizospheric microbial population, nutrient availability and growth of sugar apple in substrates with organic residues

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of alternative substrates, with or without organic residues on attributes of fertility and natural  microbiota of these substrates, and the influence on the growth of sugar apple rootstock. The experimental design was completely randomized with eight  treatments: TA = soil + sand; SC = commercial substrate (Plantmax®), SEB = SC + manure, SEC = SC + goat manure; SCA = SC + litter; AEB = sand + manure;  AEC = sand + goat manure; and ACA + = sand litter with four replications. The addition of residues promoted improvement in the quality of the sugar apple rootstock production and fertility of substrates, especially when mixed with commercial substrate composed of vegetable organic matter and expanded  vermiculite. The increase in number of bacteria and elements available was accompanied by increased quality of sugar apple rootstocks. With multivariate clustering, two groups acknowledged a similarity between the substrate mixtures. The use of goat manure mixed with commercial substrate is  recommended for production of sugar apple rootstock.