Water depletion on substrate and soil conditioner doses in the yellow passion fruit seedling formation

The cultivation of passion fruit requires constantly updated technical information to achieve competitive results. In this context, a commonly discussed aspect is the development of vigorous seedlings. The aim of this study was to assess water depletion levels in a substrate (WDL) and TerraCottem® doses for the formation of yellow passion fruit seedlings. The experimental design used was split plots in a completely randomized design, with four replications. The treatments consisted of 5, 15, 25, 35% of NDA and 0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5, and 10.0 kg m-3 of TerraCottem® doses. The following variables were measured: plant height (PH), stem diameter (SD), number of leaves (NL), dry biomass of the aerial part (DSB), root system (DRS), total dry biomass (TDM), and the Dickson Quality Index (DQI) was calculated. WDL treatments did not influence the evaluated variables. NL, PH, SD, DSB, DSR, TDM, and DQI showed increases of 12.3, 13.4, 10.0, 30.1, 28.1, 29.5, and 26.8%, respectively, when comparing the highest TerraCottem® dose to the control treatment. Sliced interaction showed double gains for the highest TerraCottem® dose for SD and PH. The plants responded to higher doses of TerraCottem®, indicating synergy of the water-retaining polymer in the plant's water supply, especially in the presence of higher WDL.