TITLE:
Lettuce production according to different sources of organic matter and soil cover
AUTHORS:
Maria Aparecida Moreira, Carlos Allan Pereira dos Santos, Ariovaldo Antonio Tadeu Lucas, Flávio Gabriel Bianchini, Igor Machado de Souza, Pedro Roberto Almeida Viégas
KEYWORDS:
Lactuca sativa L.; Organic Fertilizer; Soil Water Tension
JOURNAL NAME:
Agricultural Sciences,
Vol.5 No.2,
January
27,
2014
ABSTRACT: Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) is one of the leading
vegetables produced by farmers in the Itabaiana region, and thus it is
important to study means of sustainable management for the crop. The objective
of this work was to evaluate the behavior of lettuce with different sources
of organic matter and soil cover. Therefore, it was chosen to cultivate Veronica.
The experiment was carried out in the experimental field plot of Project Small
Farmer—Great Entrepreneur in the municipality of Itabaiana-SE, in 2010. The
design was a randomized block design with four replications, with treatments consisting
of five sources of organic matter (organic compost, chicken manure, cattle manure,
sheep manure, and castor bean) and a control (no fertilizer), all with and without
mulch, totaling 12 treatments. We evaluated the characteristics of plant
diameter, plant height, fresh and dry root and shoot matter.
We also evaluated the influence on the temperature and soil water tension. All productivity
characteristics valuated showed the significant interaction between the type of
fertilizer and the mulch, except for root dry weight, where only organic manure
was a significant factor. When soil mulch was used, the best source of organic
matter for growing lettuce was chicken manure, and in the impossibility of using
this cover, we recommend the use of organic compost as a source of organic
matter, as it showed the best result in the absence of coverage. The cover age also
showed good results in relation to a temperature that promoted lower soil
water tensions.