Studies on the use of agricultural residues as an alternative to commercial substrates have become fundamental tominimising the risk of environmental contamination resulting from inadequate disposal, as well as reducing seedling production costs. This research involved an evaluation of growth variables and quality of cucumber seedlings produced in substrates with different compositions of agricultural waste with a view to providing substitutes for commercial substrate. The experiment was based on a completely randomised design, with six treatments and ten replicates. There were five treatments with increasing proportions of moinha/decreasing proportions of carbonized rice husk (0/40, 10/30, 20/20, 30/10 and 40/0%) and fixed proportions of coconut fibre (15%), eggshell (5%), pine bark (40%), and one commercial substrate treatment as the control (Bioplant®). The variables evaluated were: electrical conductivity of the substrate, plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves, Dickson quality index (DQI) and dry matter of roots and above ground parts. Results show that alternative substrates can replace commercial substrate without impairing the quality of cucumber seedlings. However, the substrate containing 40% of moinha, 0% of rice husk, 15% of coconut fibre, 5% of eggshell and 40% of pine bark resulted in the highest values for all evaluated variables and appears to be the most promising alternative substrate for the production of cucumber seedlings.

Efeito de diferentes proporções de moinha de café na composição de substratos alternativos para produção de mudas de pepino Effect of different proportions of coffee chaff on the composition of alternative substrates for producing cucumber seedlings

Na produção de hortaliças de qualidade a formação de mudas é uma das fases mais importantes para o ciclo da cultura, influenciando diretamente no desempenho final da planta, tanto do ponto de vista nutricional como produtivo. Um dos fatores decisivos para obtenção de mudas com qualidade e consequente aumento de produtividade é o tipo de substrato utilizado. O estudo objetivou avaliar o efeito de proporções crescentes de resíduos da secagem de grãos de café (moinha) em substratos alternativos compostos de fibra de coco, casca de ovo e substrato comercial, nas variáveis de crescimento de mudas de repolho. O delineamento experimental foi o inteiramente casualizado, com cinco tratamentos e dez repetições, sendo os tratamentos: T0: substrato comercial (testemunha); T1: 10% de moinha (MO) + 15% fibra de coco (FC) + 5% casca de ovo (CO) + 70% substrato comercial (SC); T2: 20% de MO + 15% FC + 5% CO + 60% SC; T3: 30% de MO + 15% FC + 5% CO + 50% SC; T4: 40% de MO + 15% FC + 5% CO + 40% SC. As variáveis avaliadas foram condutividade elétrica do substrato, diâmetro de coleto, número de folhas, altura de plantas e matérias secas da parte aérea, raiz e total de planta. Os maiores valores obtidos das variáveis analisadas foram obtidos no tratamento 4, no qual se utilizou-se 40% de moinha + 15% fibra de coco + 5% casca de ovo + 40% substrato comercial.

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Research related to the use of agricultural residues as alternatives to commercial substrates has become fundamental for reducing the production costs of coffee seedlings. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of residues of pepper (Piper nigrum) powder, coffee (Coffea) husk, coconut (Cocos nucifera) fiber and pine (Pinus) bark as alternative substrates in the development of coffee (Coffea canephora) seedlings in tubes. The experiment was carried out at the Demuner Seedling Nursery, in the municipality of São Roque do Canaã, Espírito Santo, Brazil. The experimental design was completely randomized, with six treatments: T0- Bioplant® commercial substrate (control); and from T1 to T5, increasing proportions (%) of pepper powder and decreasing coconut fiber and pine bark (0/20/50, 10/15/45, 20/10/40, 30/5/35 and 40/0/30) and fixed proportions of coffee husk (30%). At 120 days after staking, we evaluated the plant height, number of leaves, stem diameter, shoot dry mass and root dry mass. Any of the substrates containing different proportions of agricultural residues can be used as an alternative to the commercial substrate in the production of Conilon coffee seedlings since most of the growth variables evaluated did not differ from the control. Due to the high availability of pepper powder in the region, we recommended the substrate with 40% pepper powder, 30% coffee husk and 30% pine bark.

Research related to the use of agricultural residues as a way to partially or completely replace the commercial substrates has become fundamental, as it reduces the production costs of melon seedlings. The objective of this study was to evaluate the growth variables of melon seedlings grown on substrates composed of carbonized rice husk, coconut fiber, eggshell, increasing levels of coffee moinha, and decreasing commercial substrate substitution to the use of commercial substrate Short Research Article

Seedling formation is one of the most important phases for the eggplant crop cycle. One of the decisive factors for obtaining quality seedlings and the consequent increase in productivity is the type of substrate used. The objective of this research was to evaluate the growth of eggplant seedlings grown in alternative substrates with increasing levels of “moinha” (residue from the coffee dry milling process) replacing the commercial substrate. The experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design, with six treatments and ten replicates. The treatments were: T1: commercial substrate (control); T2: 0% moinha (MO) + 40% burnt rice husk (BRH) + 15% coconut fiber (CF) + 5% eggshell (ES) + 40% commercial substrate (CS); T3: 10% MO + 40% BRH + 15% CF + 5% ES + 30% CS; T4: 20% MO + 40% BRH + 15% CF + 5% ES + 20% CS ; T5: 30% MO + 40% BRH + 15% CF + 5% ES + 10% CS; T6: 40% MO + 40% BRH + 15% CF + 5% ES + 0% CS. The electrical conductivity of the substrates and the seedling total dry mass, plant height and stem diameter were evaluated. It is recommended to use the substrate containing 20% MO + 40% BRH + 15% CF + 5% ES + 20% CS.

Studies about crop residue management have become essential due to the possibility of their use in forest seedlings production. This study evaluated the effect of coffee moinha (MO) on substrates composed of vermiculite (VE), coconut fiber (CF) and carbonized rice husk (CRH) in the development of Eucalyptus seedlings. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design, with five treatments of increasing proportions of MO/decreasing proportions of CRH (0/28, 7/21, 14/14, 21/7 and 28/0%) and fixed proportions of VE (36%) and CF (36%) in the substrate. At 85 days after planting, the following parameters were assessed: shoot height, stem diameter, root dry mass, shoot dry mass, emergence percentage and Dickson's quality index (DQI). The results showed CRH could be fully substituted by MO (28%) in the substrate composition because the assessed variables presented lower values than the control treatment (0% MO + 28% CRH + 36% VE + 36% CF). Moreover, the maximum vegetative development in Eucalyptus seedlings was achieved when CRH was replaced by up to 20% MO. In this way, MO becomes an alternative as a substrate component for Eucalyptus seedlings production.