BORON AS A MITIGATOR OF THE TOXIC EFFECT OF ALUMINUM ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF OIL PALM SEEDLINGS.
Aluminum; Elaeis guineensis Jacq .; Boron Levels; Toxicity
Oil palm is the most important oilseed worldwide, toxic Al causes a decrease in plant growth, resulting in decreased photosynthetic rates, as well as decreased stomatal conductance and reactions such as CO2 fixation. B, in turn, prevents root growth arrest, being of great importance in root development, participating in wall synthesis and cell elongation, transporting carbohydrates and directly affecting production. The objective of this work was to evaluate how different concentrations of B may be able to mitigate the effect of Al on the growth and development of oil palm seedlings, through growth measurement, physiological analyzes under the presence of Al and the action of Al. B in oil palm roots. The experimental design was completely randomized in a 3x5 factorial arrangement, with three levels of Al saturation: 50, 60 and 70%, applied as aluminum chloride - AlCl3. and five doses of B: 0, 3, 6, 10.15 mg / dm³ soil as H3BO3. Data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA), when significant by the F test, regression analysis was performed using the SISVAR program with P <0.05. Significant influence of m% and B doses were significant for the biometric variables of NF, CF, DC and H and for the physiological variables of A, E, gs, Ci, and EisUA, as well as for SPAD index in seedlings. of palm oil. It was concluded that Al directly influences the decrease of biometric and photosynthetic variables. B was able to mitigate the effect of toxic Al when applied at a dose of 3 mg dm³ of B.