The objective of this work was to check the content and amount of N, P, K, Ca and Mg, and determine the critical level of these nutrients in soil and in the plant. The seedlings were grown from December 2004 to May 2005 in 2.1 dm-3 pots with soil samples from three classes: red-yellow Alfisol (AVA), alic red-yellow Oxisol (LVA) and red-yellow dystrophic Oxisol (LVD). The treatments were delimited according to a Baconian matrix where macronutrients were varied in three doses, and two additional treatments (zero and control), with four replications. It was found that overall, the seedlings of the species absorb higher amount of N, P, K, Ca and Mg as the soil availability increased. This was reflected in a higher concentration of nutrients applied in all parts of the plant. However, in some cases, there was no corresponding growth in response to this increase. The nutrients that produced more effects were P, N and S; few responses were observed in the other nutrients (Ca, Mg and K). The species has low nutrient requirements, and the critical level of nutrients in the soil and plant were smaller than those observed for other forest species, except for K and Ca, which is suggested for studies with doses within the ranges of values found for better definition of them.
Production of seedlings; Native tree species and Critical level
