HYDROGEL ASSOCIATED WITH SOIL IN A SEMI-ARID ENVIRONMENT

• Published in: International journal of conservation science 2021-07, Vol.12 (3), p.1153-1162
• Main Authors: Barbosa, Francisca Edineide Lima, Sobrinho, José Falcão, Almeida, Cicero Lima, Silva, Dimitri Matos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acids; Agricultural production; Ammonium; Ammonium sulfate; Arid environments; Aridity; Dams; Efficiency; Fertilizers; Growth rate; Hydrogels; Irrigation; Irrigation water; Leaf area; Leaves; Mathematical analysis; Mineral fertilizers; Nitrates; Phosphoric acid; Semi arid environments; Semiarid environments; Soil density; Soils; Stems; Storage capacity; Sulfur; Transplantation; Trees; Urea; Water storage
• ISSN: 2067-533X; 2067-8223

The hydrogel is becoming more and more indicated for agricultural use, as they have the potential to increase the water storage capacity in the soil and, consequently, reduce the amount and frequency of irrigation. However, these advantages can be lost when using specific types of fertilizer or short watering shifts. Given this, the objective was to evaluate the real efficiency of the hydrogel when submitted to different fertilizer and irrigation shifts, in the cultivation of sweetsop trees. For this purpose, a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with a 3x3x2 factorial scheme was used, corresponding to three fertilizer solutions: A1 - urea + elemental sulfur + phosphoric acid, A2 - ammonium sulfate + phosphoric acid, and A3 - only water; three irrigation shifts: 1, 3 and 6 days; and two doses of hydrogel: 0.0g (control) and 5g per plant. The relative and absolute growth rates were calculated weekly from the height and diameter data of the sweetsop trees. 77 days after the transplantation some data were collected, namely: fresh leaf mass - FLM, dry leaf mass - DLM, fresh stem mass - FSM, dry stem mass - DSM, specific leaf area - SLA and total leaf area - TLA. The conclusion of this research is that there are no beneficial effects of adding hydrogel to the soil when it is added with mineral fertilizer, regardless of the irrigation shift. Besides considering variables such as soil density and the mode of application, research must consider the application of the hydrogel under conditions similar to those presented in this study to be unfeasible.