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.

The plant environment in the production of Achachairu (Garcinia humilis) seedlings aims to obtain quality plants for orchards' formation. The present study aimed to evaluate reflective materials on benches and fruit seeds harvested from different plant positions to produce Achachairu seedlings. The reflective materials used under the cultivation benches were aluminum foil, "fake sequin" fabric, mirror, and tetra pak®. The fruit collection positions in the plants were at the top, median and bottom. The largest seedlings were obtained on the bench with reflective material of Tetra Pak®; however, in this material, there was a greater relationship between the height and diameter of the seedlings' neck, which is not desired for quality seedlings. The largest number of sheets was observed on the benches with reflective material of Tetra Pak® and "false sequin" fabric. The lowest dry masses of the root system and the lowest Dickson quality indexes were obtained from seedlings grown on the bench with reflective mirror material, forming lesser quality seedlings. The fruit collection place in the matrix plant did not influence the seedlings' quality. The use of reflective material on the bench is not recommended for the cultivation of Achachairu seedlings.

Most seedling production is carried out in protected environments influencing plant growth and development. The present study aimed to evaluate types of the cover of protected environments and reflective material in the production of seedlings of Hymenaea courbaril. The experiments were carried out in four protected environments: (A1) agricultural greenhouse covered with low-density polyethylene (LDPE) film with 42% - 50% shading screen under the film; (A2) agricultural screen with an aluminized screen with 35% shading; (A3) agricultural screen with a black screen of 30% of shading, and (A4) agricultural screen with a black screen of 18% of shading. Production systems were tested with and without reflective material on the cultivation bench in each protected environment. The photosynthetically active radiation reflecting material used was the aluminized screen (Aluminet®). As there were no repetitions of the protected environments, each environment was considered an experiment. In each environment, the experimental design used was completely randomized, with four replications and five plants per plot. Among the variables analyzed, it was observed that the agricultural screen with a black screen (18% of shading) presented better quality seedlings. The system with reflective material presented higher values of the number of leaves and stem diameter.