Agricultural wastes as alternative substrates in the production of conilon coffee seedlings

Abstract

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.