Rhapis excelsa is one of the most cultivated ornamental palms of the world, indicated for cultivation in pots and under shadow. Most of the palm trees present slow growth. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of fertilization on acceleration of palm seedlings production. The effects of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers on the growth of seedlings of this specie, during 8 months, were investigated in this work. Seedlings with 3.80 cm of height were cultivated in a substrate constituted of equal parts of soil and vermiculite. Applications of NPK were made weekly, at the concentration of 10 mg.L-1 of substrate, using MAP, ammonium sulphate and potassium chloride. The treatments were composed of all combinations of these mineral nutrients plus one control. The experiment was carried out in a green house with sprinkles. Dry weight production of shoots and roots, leaf area, stalk diameter, number of leaves and plant height were measured. Nitrogen fertilization increased the development and growth of the seedlings, raising most of the analyzed parameters. Better seedling development was observed with application of N, but there was no correlation between N and P or K application.
Rhapis excelsa; fertilizers; production of seedlings
