Avaliação do desenvolvimento inicial do milho (Zea mays L.) sob aplicação de diferentes doses de magnésio

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of different doses of magnesium sulfate (MgSO₄) on the initial development of corn (Zea mays L.). Five treatments were tested (T0: 0 ppm; T50: 50 ppm; T100: 100 ppm; T200: 200 ppm; T300: 300 ppm of MgSO₄), with five replicates each. The experiment was carried out in two phases: the germination phase, conducted in the laboratory, in which seedling height and root length were analyzed, and the vegetative phase (V4), in which plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves, accumulated biomass and dry matter were evaluated. Initially, the plants were grown in the laboratory and, subsequently, kept under natural conditions for 20 days. Statistical analysis was performed using ANOVA in Excel software, considering a significance level of 5%. The results did not indicate statistically significant differences between treatments in both phases of the experiment. It was found that external magnesium supplementation did not influence the initial growth of plants up to 20 days, a period in which nutrients from the endosperm were sufficient to sustain development. It is concluded that magnesium application is more relevant in later stages of crop growth.