Morphological characteristics of Pinus tropicalis Morelet in nursery with different size of containers

Abstract

The study evaluated the early the behavior of the morphological parameters and their impact on the quality of Pinus tropicalis Morelet plant in the initial phase of nursery containers 123, 205 and 305 cm3 was evaluated. The substrate used was: pine bark peat + sandy soil of pine forest. The seeds came from the seed mass of Galalon province of Pinar del Río, Cuba, with a viability of 65%. We used a completely randomized design with four replicates, applying ANOVA. Was also carried out principal component analysis for the morphological parameters, and correlation matrix for the variables corresponding to each component. We evaluated the following parameters: part relation shoot / root dry weight, height, diameter, Dickson quality index and water balance, plants obtained indifferent container sizes. It was noted that the parameters that most affected the quality of plant species in its initial phase were: shoot dry weight, Dickson quality index, water balance and slenderness ratio. The plants obtained in the container of 205 cm 3 showed the best morphological relationships.