Comparison of two varieties of amaranth: white (Amaranthus hypocondriacus L.) and sangoracha (Amaranthus quitensis L.,) using azolla (Azolla Filiculoides) as a substrate in sexual propagation

Abstract

The object of the study was to evaluate azolla as a substrate in the sexual propagation of two varieties of amaranth. A randomized complete block design with a factorial arrangement of 2 x 4 was used, using 2 varieties of amaranth and 4 types of substrates, this for 3 repetitions. We counted the total number of plants that are 128 per treatment therefore it is the same amount of alveoli due to a previous thinning to determine the percentage of germination in 36 plants per net plot. The number of days elapsed from sowing to the emergence of seedlings was taken into account. Azolla as a 100% substrate showed excellent results to the emergence, but for the survival of the seedling the results were not very acceptable, since the seedlings spent around 20 days began to lose vigor, because the Azolla acted as a sponge at the moment of absorbing water, which does not give good support to the seedling. The azolla with pomina did not give acceptable results for the germination of the seed, the mixture of both structures causes significant openings in the pylon, affecting the stability of the seed inside the substrate, and that is, with the wide porosity the seed goes towards the background and lose contact with sunlight, essential factor for the emergency. It was defined as the best type of substratum to S3, that is to say, the substrate elaborated with Peet moss, since it has well-marked significance ranges, being located in the first range in each of the studied factors. In the variable germination percentage, the treatment V2S3 (A. quitensis + Peet moss) obtained significance at 5% with an average of 92.29%, being the best. In terms of seedling height, the best treatment was shown in V2S3 (A. quitensis + Peet moss) with an average of 6.41cm, which determined its significance at 5%. The variable root volume was observed as the best treatment at V2S3 (A. quitensis + Peet moss) that produced plants with 0.58 mL root volume as mean and with 5% significance. The use of azolla as an amaranth propagation substrate.

Keywords

• azolla
• amaranth
• germination
• propagation
• pylon
• substrate.