Avanços na Produção de Tubetes Ecológicos: Uma Revisão

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.22533/at.ed.6882409116

• Palavras-chave: tubete biodegradável; inovação; reflorestamento; biomassa

• Keywords: biodegradable tube; innovation; reforestation; biomass

• Abstract: The expansion of agriculture and extensive livestock farming, marked by the loss of forest cover, causes serious environmental consequences such as soil degradation, water resource depletion, and biodiversity reduction. With the growing global concern for environmental quality, the demand for forestry services and products to reverse degradation processes and restore degraded ecosystems has increased. Various restoration techniques are used in Brazil due to the diversity of biomes, with variations according to environmental conditions. In this context, the quality of seedlings is crucial for the success of reforestation, influencing the establishment and cost of area settlement. Research aims to improve seedling quality through better methodologies, containers, substrates, and fertilizations. High-quality seedlings are essential to withstand adverse field conditions. The production of seedlings in containers, especially grow-tubes, which are small cylindrical containers used for planting seeds or seedlings, allows for better control of nutrition and root protection, facilitating nursery management, transportation, distribution, and planting. Grow-tubes are generally made of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) and are economically attractive, but their resistance to biodegradation makes them environmentally disadvantageous. Therefore, it is important to adopt biodegradable materials that degrade more rapidly in the soil. Research on biodegradable grow-tubes is recent and highly valued for being aligned with environmental conservation proposals, with studies being conducted in countries such as Malaysia, Japan, Italy, the United States, and Brazil.