Abstract
Lettuce cultivation is an activity of great economic importance; therefore, the use of techniques for better use of space and better-growing conditions should be evaluated. The objective of this study was to evaluate the development and yield of garden lettuce grown under different soil coverings and plant spacing. The study was conducted in an experimental area located at the School of Agronomy of the Federal University of Goiás, in the city of Goiânia, Goiás. The experiment was conducted in a randomized block design with subdivided plots in four replications. The plots consisted of three soil coverings (soil without cover, straw, and plastic cover) and the subplots in three planting spacing (PS1 = 25 x 20; PS2 = 25 x 25; PS3 = 25 x 30 cm), totaling nine treatments. The evaluations occurred when the plants presented their complete development, being evaluated: plant diameter, fresh head mass, stem mass, number of leaves, stem height; stem diameter; relative chlorophyll index; yield; and utilization, corresponding to the percentage of fresh marketable mass. It was found that the use of soil cover can favor the densification of lettuce cultivation. For cultivation on soil without cover or with the use of plastic as a cover, the cultivation spacing must be greater.
Highlights
O cultivo de alface é uma atividade de grande importância econômica, portando, o uso de técnicas para melhor aproveitamento do espaço e melhores condições de cultivo, devem ser avaliadas
Several vegetable planting techniques have been studied, such as the use of mulching, or soil cover, which consists of using different materials in order to establish better cultivation conditions, in addition to acting to increase the characteristics of vegetable yield and quality (Blind and Silva Filho, 2015)
Material and Methods The study was conducted from May 1 to June 14, 2016, in an experimental area located at the School of Agronomy of the Federal University of Goiás, in the city of Goiânia-GO (16°35'S, 49°16' W and altitude of 725m)
Summary
O cultivo de alface é uma atividade de grande importância econômica, portando, o uso de técnicas para melhor aproveitamento do espaço e melhores condições de cultivo, devem ser avaliadas. According to Farias et al (2017), lettuce plants grown under plastic soil cover showed better results when compared to plants grown in soil without cover This improvement can be related to the maintenance of adequate levels of water in the soil, together with the smaller oscillation of daily soil temperature and increased capacity for nutrient absorption, due to the favor of root activity (Meneses et al, 2016; Kosterna, 2014), in addition to acting in the reduction of weeds that may reduce crop yield due to competition for water, light and essential nutrients for the growth and development of the crop of economic interest (Souza et al, 2016)
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