Efeito de preparados homeopáticos em sementes de pepino (cucumis sativus)

Abstract

Homeopathy applied to agriculture emerges as an alternative and ecologically responsible practice for organic and agroecological production systems. The objective of the present work was to evaluate the effects of homeopathic preparations on seed germination and initial development of cucumber (Cucumis sativus) seedlings. The homeopathic treatments used in the experiment were Calcarea carbonica and Carbo vegetabilis in 12 CH and 15 CH dynamizations and Control (distilled water only). The design adopted was a completely randomized design (DIC), with 4 replications. The variables evaluated were: percentage of germination and non-germinated seeds, percentage of emergence in the greenhouse, seedling length in greenhouse and in the laboratory (total length, root and aerial part). The results obtained were subjected to statistical analysis, via the F test of analysis of variance, adopting a 5% probability of error. The percentage of germination in the control treatment, without homeopathy, was 98% and did not differ from treatments using homeopathy, which presented percentages ranging from 98 to 98.5%. In the greenhouse, the lowest emergence percentage was 75% in the control and 87.5% in Carbo vegetabilis 15 CH, the three other treatments obtained 100% emergence, with no significant differences in the analysis of variance. Concerning seedling length tests, both in the laboratory and in the greenhouse, no significant differences were observed in the length of the different parts of the seedlings. It is concluded that the homeopathic preparations used did not cause considerable positive responses in the germination and initial development of cucumber (Cucumis sativus) seedlings.