Alternative substrates in the production of spinach seedlings from the Amazon

Abstract

As an unconventional food plant with excellent nutritional qualities, Amazon spinach stands out among other horticultural species, as it has high potential for use in agriculture. However, the literature regarding the use of organic sources in seedling production is incipient. Meanwhile, the he objective of this work was to evaluate the quality of spinach seedlings from the Amazon produced with alternative substrates. The experiment was carried out in the garden of the Universidade Federal do Acre, from March to April 2022. The experimental design was in randomized blocks, with five treatments and four blocks. The treatments were the different substrates, where: T1 = palm substrate, T2 = palm substrate with charcoal, T3 = commercial substrate, T4 = commercial substrate + palm substrate and T5 = commercial substrate + palm substrate with charcoal. The evaluations took place after 30 days of cultivation, evaluating: height, diameter, leaf length and width, total number of shoots and leaves, root length, fresh mass of shoots and roots, dry mass of shoots and roots, mass total fresh and dry, and the Dickson Quality Index calculated. There was a significant effect of the substrates used for the evaluated variables of the spinach seedlings. The alternative substrates mixed with the commercial one, presented itself as an alternative in the production of seedlings. The palm substrate witch charcoal and palm substrate, when mixed with the commercial one, is an alternative to produce quality seedlings for Brazilian spinach.