Journal of Experimental Agriculture International

Demand for organic products has been increasing due to great acceptance by consumers. However, there are obstacles that make it difficult for the population to access this food. Among them are the inadequate system of cultivation, mainly in relation to the type of substrate and tray. But the most appropriate management will lead to the attainment of better quality organic products. Thus, the objective of this work was to perform an agronomic analysis of pepper seedlings submitted to different organic substrates and trays. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design, in a 5 x 2 factorial scheme, where the five substrates evaluated were S₁: Bioplant® commercial substrate (control treatment), S₂: earthworm humus, S₃: soil, S₄: 50% soil + 50% earthworm humus and S5: 75% soil + 25% earthworm humus; and the two types of trays were B₁: tray with 98 cells and B₂: tray with 200 cells. The results show that for the pepper emergence have not presented significant difference among the different substrates used in the experiments. The average mean value was 81.29%. The vegetative growth characteristics of the pepper seedlings studied provide good physical structure of fixation, good porosity, and excellent sources of nutrients. When trays was compared B₁ with B₂, the following variables diameter of the lap; plant height; root length; dry mass of aerial part; fresh root mass, with tray of 98 cells, the results showed the best results. In addition with trays 200 cells showed lesser pepper seedling production. Substrates based on humus presented good physical and nutritional characteristics, besides being cheaper.