Applying Nendo Dango Technique for Germination and Pre Establishment of Native Species on Deforested Areas

Abstract

Nendo Dango is a planting technique created by the agriculturist and microbiologist Masanobu Fukuoka, around the 1940’s decade, to reforest some zones of the Asiatic continent with tendency to desertification, while developing the Fukuoka method with no-tillage, also called wild agriculture. This paper’s goal was to evaluate this technique’s efficiency on germination and pre-establishment of native species seeds in a deforested area in the Brejo Comprido’s stream riverbank, in Palmas, state of Tocantins, Brazil. Eight types of native species seeds were selected, arranging them into lake-originated-clay balls around 2 to 3 cm large, disposed in 0.5 meters interspacing, forming an experiment field of 8 m², designed with 5 sample lines and 3 repetitions for statistical analysis, totalizing a 24 m² area. Nine data acquisitions were made to input into calculation the parameters germination percentage (GP), germination velocity rate (GVR) and required germination time (RGT). Results had shown a GP varying from 26.7% to 100%, where 5 of the 8 species seeds well-thrived the environment conditions applied, as well as a GVR varying from 0.36 to 1.35 individuals per day and an RGT varying from 0.17 to 0.26 seeds per day. In a general picture, the technique proved to be efficient for the proposed experiment and chosen native species, supplying the seeds with a good pre-environment for successful germination and pre-establishment.