Pine sawdust pretreated with fungi strains as a substrate for the cultivation of tomatoes

Abstract

The cultivation of tomato plantlets (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) on sawdust of Pinus radiata Don. pretreated with strains of Agaricales UACHMGs-99 (Gymnopilus spectabilis) and UACHMPc-280 (Pleuroflammula croseosanguinea) was studied. Pretreated sawdust was mixed with clayish red soil (1:1 vol/vol). As controls sawdust alone, clayish red soil and a mixture of both were used. Triplicated substrates were deposited in containers and in each container 50 tomato seeds were sown and cultivated during one month in a chamber (16/8 h light /darkness, 4.000 lux, 10-24°C ± 1°C). For sixty plantlets per treatment the emergence and survival percentage, height, root length, number of leaves and dried weight were determined. Statistical analysis was performed on the data, using ANOVA and a Tukey Test. In the tomato plantlets cultivated on the substrate with pretreated sawdust, a higher survival (98.5 to 100%), plant height (12.2 to 16.5 cm) and root length (13.9 cm) were measured. The study demonstrated the presence of significant differences between tomato plantlets cultivated on substrates that included pretreated sawdust versus the controls. Therefore the pretreated sawdust of P. radiata could be used for the cultivation of tomato plantlets.