The objectives of this research are the evaluation of substrate volume and granulometer influence - used in production of coffee seedlings in plastic tubes - on coffee plants growth, the time of seedlings development and also seedling-substrate handling stability. The investigation was carried out in a nursery at Coffee Experimental Center of IAC, SP, Brazil, with the cultivar Catuaí Vermelho IAC 144 (Coffea arabica L.). Nine treatments were tested with four replicates and the experimental design used was randomized blocks with 3x3 factorial composed by three substrate volumes (V1: 50, V2: 120 and V3: 200cm³) and three granulometer substrate levels (G1: 30.86%, G2: 62.26% and G3: 49.83% of particles in sieves 0.50 to 0.05mm). The stability of seedlings to handle was evaluated using a vibratory table, with basis of amount of crumbling material (substrate and roots). The joint was submitted to rotation during 60 seconds, repeated five times (5 cycles). The end of each cycle the unfastened material was collected and definitive to disaggregated mass. The stability of joint seedling-substrate varied with the size of container, bigger in tubetes with 50cm³ and 120cm³ of substrate. The partial reduction of granulometry (50% of substrate on original granulometer and 50% of crushed substrate) increased the adhesion of particles with roots and, the stability of joint.
Coffea arabica L.; conic plastic tubes; propagation; vibratory table
