ABSTRACT
The use of organic waste in the composition of substrates for seedlings constitutes an alternative to the recycling of these materials. Thus, an experiment was conducted with the objective to evaluate the production of ‘Formosa’ papaya seedlings in substrate containing carnauba wax residue, under foliar fertilization. The experimental design was completely randomized with five replicates, with treatments distributed in a 5 x 2 factorial scheme, corresponding to five materials used as substrates, in the presence and absence of foliar fertilization. The materials used were: earthworm humus, carnauba residue + fresh rice husk; carnauba residue in powder; carnauba residue semi-decomposed and mixture of carnauba residues: carnauba residue + fresh rice husk + carnauba residue semi-decomposed + carnauba residue in powder, at the proportion 1:1:1. The agroindustrial residue of carnauba wax semi-decomposed can be used as substrates in the production of ‘Formosa’ papaya seedlings. The foliar fertilization increases the quality of papaya seedlings, leading to increment in leaf area, root volume and sulfur content in the leaves, thus becoming a necessary practice.
Key words:
Carica papaya; quality seedlings; mineral nutrition