Formation of Tomato Seedlings in Substrates of low Acquisition Cost in Agroecological Production

Abstract

Substrates should promote adequate porosity as well as provide nutrition needed for the formation of quality seedlings. The objective was to evaluate different formulations of substrates of low cost of acquisition for tomato seedling production in an agroecological system. The experiment was conducted at the State University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Cassilândia/MS, in agricultural screen with a monofilament screen of 30% shading. It was evaluated five substrates from the different proportions of commercial substrate Carolina Soil XVI and vermiculite of medium granulometry, being: 0% Carolina Soil + 100% Vermiculite, 25% Carolina Soil + 75% Vermiculite, 50% Carolina Soil + 50% Vermiculite, 75% Carolina Soil + 25% Vermiculite and 100% Carolina Soil + 0% Vermiculite. The index of speed and percentage of emergence, height of seedlings, number of leaves, neck diameter, dry mass of shoot, root system and total were evaluated. The percentage data were transformed into sine arc of the root of x plus half. The experimental design was completely randomized with 4 replicates of 10 seedlings. The data were submitted to analysis of variance (F test) and the means were compared by the tukey test at 5% probability. The rate of emergence velocity in substrate S4 was higher than in substrates S1 and S2. It is recommended that the substrate 75% of Carolina Soil + 25% of Vermiculite as a viable alternative for the reduction of costs in agroecological production of tomato seedlings.