Desempenho da alface e da rúcula em diferentes concentrações de ferro na solução nutritiva

Abstract

The deficiency of iron in the human organism causes the anemia, which is a public health problem. Food biofortification is a scientific tendency to avoid the disease. The objective of this study was to evaluate biofortification with iron of lettuce and arugula in soilless culture. Two experiments in hydroponics one for each culture were installed. The experimental design was in randomized blocks with five treatments and six replications. The treatments consisted in increasing concentrations of iron 45 (control), 90; 135; 180; 225 μmol.L-1. At 27 and 30 days after transplanting to arugula and lettuce, respectively, were evaluated: shoot fresh matter, number of leaves, leaf area, root fresh matter, root volume, shoot dry matter and root dry matter. The data were submitted to variance and regression analysis. The production of shoot fresh matter of lettuce and arugula decreased significantly with increasing iron concentration. Lettuce occurred reduction of 83.60% in the concentration of 180 μmol.L-1 Fe and arugula was a reduction of 67.86% in the concentration of 225 μmol.L-1 Fe. For lettuce production Vitoria Santo Antao and Rococo arugula hydroponically recommended the use of concentration of 45 μmol.L-1 Fe.