Behavior of two varieties of baby leaf arugula grown under different photoselective nets

Abstract

The market for baby leaf vegetables has grown steadily, their cultivation is being done in protected environments, and these can be constructed of different materials. The aim of the work was to evaluate the development of two baby leaf arugula varieties in protected environments composed of different photoselective nets. The work was developed at the (FAEXP) Experimental Farm, of the University of the State of Minas Gerais-UEMG, Campus Unidad Ituitutaba-MG. The experimental design was in randomized blocks in a 2x5 factorial scheme, being two varieties of baby leaf arugula and five growing environments: no nets (witness); black shading net (mesh for 30% shading); white photoselective net (mesh for 20% shade); blue photoselective net (mesh for 20% shade) and red photoselective net (mesh for 20% shade) with four repetitions, being seven plants of each variety per experimental plot. The results evaluated were chlorophyll A and B, plant height, leaf number, stem diameter, plant length, plant height, aerial fresh phytophytomass, root fresh phytophytomass, aerial dry phytophytomass, root dry phytophytomass. The data were subjected to analysis of variance (F test) and the treatment means were compared by Tukey's test at 5% probability. Among the varieties, Antonella had a better performance than the Rokita variety. Regarding the photoselective screens, the white one stood out more in relation to the quantities of items evaluated. The use of red screens is the most indicated since there was a greater development of fresh phytomass, which is interesting since the vegetable is sold fresh by volume.