The Achachairu (Garcinia humilis) is a Bolivian exotic fruit that has been produced and commercialized a few years in Brazil. Information about the production of high quality seedlings is essential for the implementation and the renewal of orchards. The objective was to evaluate protected environments and substrates for Achachairu seedlings. Two protected environments were evaluated, one covered with aluminized thermal reflector screen of 50% of shading and the other with Sombrite® of 50% of shading. Inside the protected environments were tested substrates derived from combinations of various proportions of cattle manure (CM), ravine soil (RS), medium vermiculite (MV), super fine vermiculite (FV) and sand (S). For each protected environment was adopted a completely randomized design with 5 replications of 5 seedlings. Protected environments were compared by analysis of groups of experiments. All substrates studied formed high quality seedlings for the implementation of Garcinia orchards, with low rates of aerial and root phytomasses, low rates between height and stem diameter, providing higher Dickson quality index. The Aluminet® promoted the best seedlings with larger shoot, root and total dry mass.

The successful establishment of a forest restoration program depends of the seedling quality, and the choice of substrate and growing environment plays a significant role in the production of high-quality seedlings. A study was conducted to evaluate the production of croada seedlings (Mouriri elliptica Mart.) grown in thirteen substrate combinations and subjected to two production nurseries constructed with black shading screen (Sombrite®) and aluminized thermal-reflective screen (Aluminet®). The substrates were prepared from different proportions of bovine manure, soil, vermiculite, and sand. In each protected environment, the thirteen different substrate compositions were arranged in a completely randomized design with five replicates of the five seedlings each. Because there was no replication of the cultivation environments, the joint analysis was carried out, allowing the comparison of the environments in the factorial scheme 2 × 13 (two environments × thirteen substrates). Growth and quality of seedlings were measured at 188 days. Seedling production environment has no effect on the germination and emergence process of the seedlings, but the growth and quality of the seedlings can be improved when grown in the nursery with black shading screen. Substrates containing low proportion of bovine manure (from 10 to 30%) and high proportion of vermiculite (from 30 to 40%) resulted in high-quality croada seedlings.

Success in production of any perennial tree depends on the use of high-quality seedlings. This study aimed to evaluate cultivation benches with reflective material and protected environments for production of rubber tree rootstock seedlings. The experiments were conducted in two types of protected environments: 35% shading aluminized screen and 30% shading black screen. Cultivation benches with and without reflective material were tested inside the protected environments. A completely randomized design with 7 replications and 5 seedlings per plot was adopted for each environment, and the environments were compared by joint analysis. Solar radiation (global and photosynthetically active) was the most influencing micrometeorological factor on plant environment and plant growth differentiation. Regardless of the environment, the use of reflective material in cultivation bench had a positive effect on production of rubber rootstock seedling (clone GT1), providing seedlings with a robust root system and better quality. The use of reflective material also improved rubber tree rootstock seedlings (clone GT1) grown in the black screen environment.