Artificial cassava seeds: a technology to revolutionize the crop planting system

• Grant number: 22/06822-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2022
• End date: July 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Crop Science
• Principal Investigator: Adalton Mazetti Fernandes
• Grantee: Luana Cabral Basso
• Host Institution: Centro de Raízes e Amidos Tropicais (CERAT). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is vegetatively propagated by stem cuttings and has a low multiplication rate (5-10 stem cuttings plant-1 year-1). This method facilitates the exchange of stem cuttings between producers, but increases the transmission of pathogens and makes transport logistics difficult. The use of artificial seeds can be an alternative to solve these difficulties. The general objective of this work will be to produce artificial seeds from cassava mini-cuttings and the specific objectives will be: a) evaluate ways of coating cassava mini-cuttings for the production of artificial seeds; b) evaluate the storage capacity of artificial seeds; c) evaluate the sprouting and rooting of plants from artificial seeds. Artificial cassava seeds will be produced in the laboratory and planted in 38 dm3 pots with soil in a greenhouse. The experimental design used will be randomized blocks in a 4 x 2 + 1 factorial scheme, with four replications. The treatments will have four ways of coating artificial seeds (uncoated and coated with Na alginate, paraffin, or starch-based gel), two types of artificial seeds (naked and encapsulated), and a control treatment (traditional 20-cm-long stem cuttings). For the artificial seeds encapsulation already coated, biocapsules based on cassava starch with the commercial substrate will be used. Artificial seeds will be planted in pots the day after preparation, after 15 and 30 days of storage. Will be evaluated: sprouting percentage, rate of sprouting speed, plant height, number of stems per plant and stem diameter, number of leaves and leaf area per plant, number of tuberous roots per plant, and accumulation of fresh and dry matter in the plants. The data obtained will be submitted to analysis of variance separately by experiment (1, 2, and 3) and the means of the treatments will be compared by the Tukey test (pd0.05).(AU)