SEEDLINGS PRODUCTION AND FRUIT YIELD OF CUCUMBER ON DIFFERENT ORGANIC SUBSTRATES

Abstract

Demand for agricultural products with zero or reduced amounts of agrochemicals leads to increasingly healthy production alternatives. Thus, seedling formation and fruit yield of three cucumber cultivars were evaluated on different organic substrates in a protected environment. Marketer, Caipira and Verde Comprido cultivars were grown on five substrates: 100% cassava stems + 0% cattle manure; 75% cassava stems + 25% cattle manure; 50% cassava stems + 50% cattle manure; 25% cassava stems + 75% cattle manure and 0% cassava stems + 100% cattle manure. A completely randomized design in a 5 x 3 factorial scheme (5 substrates X 3 cultivars) was used, with six replications of four seedlings in the seedling formation phase and five replications of two plants in the fruit production phase. The seedlings were produced in trays with 72 cells, and fruit production was conducted in 13-liter pots. There was a little influence of the substrates on the emergence of cucumber cultivars: the substrates with 75 and 100% of cattle manure provided the best conditions for seedling formation, as well as the highest yield and the largest amount of fruits. On the best substrates, the cultivar Caipira had fruits with higher mass and larger average fruit diameter, but in smaller numbers.