BIOFERTILIZERS AND BIOCONTROLLERS AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE USE OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS AND FUNGICIDES IN THE PROPAGATION OF YERBA MATE BY MINI-CUTTINGS

ABSTRACT The production of yerba mate seedlings through seeds has several limitations, which can be overcome by ex vitro vegetative propagation techniques such as the mini-cuttings, in which it is usually necessary to use synthetic chemical fertilizers and fungicides. However, there is a tendency towards sustainable agriculture, using biofertilizers (growth-promoting bacteria) and biocontrollers (Trichoderma sp.). Therefore, the objectives of this work were to evaluate the effect of biofertilizers on the production of mini-cuttings from yerba mate mini-stumps; as well as the effect, of biocontrollers on survival and rooting capacity of mini-cuttings. Strains of Bacillus sp. and Trichoderma asperelloides of yerba mate were used under two radiation conditions. There was a positive relationship between the availability of radiation and the production of mini-cuttings and the rooting capacity. All the mini-stumps sprouted regardless of treatments. The largest production of viable mini-cuttings occurred in a situation of high radiation and fertilization; while the treatments with growth-promoting bacteria and high radiation had intermediate values. The mini-cuttings inoculated with Trichoderma asperelloides had higher rooting percentage, greater number and length of roots than the mini-cuttings treated with fungicide. Therefore, we demonstrated that the use of chemical products can be replaced by biological ones and achieves acceptable yields.