INITIAL GROWTH OF ITA aBA AND MACACA aBA UNDER CONTAINERS OF DIFFERENT SIZES

As dimens\uf5es do recipiente afetam tanto o custo de produ\ue7\ue3o quanto a qualidade das mudas de esp\ue9cies florestais, e o padr\ue3o de resposta destas \ue9 dependente da especificidade da esp\ue9cie. Objetivou-se com o presente estudo avaliar o efeito do tamanho de recipientes no crescimento inicial das esp\ue9cies florestais Mezilaurus itauba Taub. ex Mez e Platymiscium ulei Harms. Foram conduzidos dois experimentos concomitantemente, em condi\ue7\uf5es de viveiro, utilizando-se o delineamento experimental inteiramente casualizado, com cinco repeti\ue7\uf5es. Os tamanhos de recipientes testados equivaleram-se a 20 x 15 cm (T1); 20 x 20 cm (T2); 23 x 20 cm (T3); 25 x 20 cm (T4); 30 x 20 cm (T5) e 33 x 23 cm (T6). Aos 90 dias ap\uf3s o transplantio das pl\ue2ntulas, verificou-se que o tamanho de recipientes afeta, de maneira diferenciada, a qualidade das mudas tanto de macaca\ufaba quanto de ita\ufaba. Sendo o recipiente 25 x 20 cm mais indicado para o cultivo da esp\ue9cie macaca\ufaba, enquanto que para a ita\ufaba recomenda-se o recipiente de dimens\uf5es 33 x 23 cm. Por outro lado, os recipientes 20 x 15 cm e 20 x 20 cm n\ue3o devem ser utilizados para nenhuma das esp\ue9cies avaliadas.The dimensions of the container affect both the production cost and the quality of seedlings of forest species, and the pattern of response of these depends on the specificity of the species. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of size of containers on the initial growth of forest species Mezilaurus itauba Taub. ex Mez and Platymiscium ulei Harms. Two experiments were conducted concomitantly in nursery conditions, using the completely randomized design with five replicates. The treatments comprised of six sizes of containers: 20 cm x 15 cm (T1), 20 cm x 20 cm (T2), 23 cm x 20 cm (T3), 25 cm x 20 cm (T4), 30 cm x 20 cm (T5) and 33 cm x 23 cm (T6). After 90 days of growth, the size of containers affects differently the quality of the seedlings of both the species. The size of container 25 x 20 cm is more appropriate for the cultivation of macaca\ufaba species while the best response to ita\ufaba was obtained for the container 33 x 23 cm. On the other hand, the containers 20 x 15 cm and 20 x 20 cm should not be used for any of the tested species