Fertilization with calcium nitrate and its influence on differen-tial growth of peach tree rootstocks in containers

The objective was to evaluate whether the different levels of fertilization with Ca(NO3)2 influenced the growth of rootstocks cultivated in packaging. The plant material used in the experiment was obtained from seeds produced by mother plants of the rootstock cultivar Tsukuba 1, and from two intraspecific F1 hybrids of Prunus persica, derived from reciprocal crossing, selections being NR 0080412 ('Capdeboscq' x ' Flordaguard') and NR 0280401 ('Flordaguard' x 'Capdeboscq'), all with purple leaves. The experimental design was completely randomized, in a 3 x 5 factorial scheme, with three genotypes and five different doses of nitrogen, in the form of calcium nitrate. Five replications were used for each treatment, with the experimental unit consisting of one plant. It was verified that the highest dose of Ca(NO3)2, provided the best quality of the seedlings, which was expressed in the highest DQI, for the three genotypes evaluated, highlighting the seedlings of the 'NR 0080412' selection, which also proved to be more vigorous in relation to the other evaluated genotypes.