The protected cultivation of vegetables is an activity in expansion in Amazonas State, Brazil. There are several advantages in comparison to the cultivation under field conditions: harvest all year long, precocity, increase of productivity and improvement of the quality of the product. The aim of this work was to characterize the use of protected cultivation model in Iranduba, region of Manaus, with emphasis on sweet pepper production. On the basis of the answers gotten in an questionnaire applied to the nine producers of the region, 67% of the producers interviewed had never produced vegetables previously and that most of them used the convective chapel greenhouse type, with size varying between 160 and 495 m², at a cost of R$ 7,30 to 10,0 on each m². The cultivated average area was of 0,68 ha for producer. The sweet pepper is the predominant vegetable in the greenhouse. For its culture, only 22% of the interviewed ones had carried through soil analyses and soil liming. Even so, the used amounts of lime and fertilizer were not based on soil analyses. The soil is prepared by tractor by 89% of the interviewed ones and all use dripping and fertirrigation. The water comes from artesian wells, but analyses of its adequacy for the activity are not made. Plagues and illnesses are controlled using the available agricultural defensive in the market, usually in the same dosages and applications recommended for the conventional cultivation. The sweet pepper productivity in the first planting reaches 125 t ha-1, with a sudden fall, of up to 40%, from the second planting on. While half of the producers deliver the production to midlemen, the other half is commercialized in fairs and supermarkets. Although the diverse challenges (deficient technical assistance, high cost and low durability of the structures, lack of suitable cultivars for the local climate, definition lack of management of the culture), 67% of the interviewed producers would like to extend the area under protected environment.
Capsicum annuum L.; greenhouse; practices of management; protected environment
