Growth of lettuce cultivars in beds covered with differing materials

Abstract

In commercial lettuce growing, the intensive cultivation of the soil results in an increase in weed populations, making it difficult to fully exploit the area and increasing production costs. Under such
 circumstances, the use of soil covers can minimize this problem. Consequently, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of different materials as soil covers on the agronomic performance of three lettuce cultivars. The experiment was arranged in randomized blocks, with treatments set in a subdivided plot scheme. Five types of soil cover (plots) were tested: no cover, black plastic, double white faced plastic, straw mulching and kraft paper and three Lettuce cultivars (subplots): loose-crested leaf group, iceberg lettuce group, with four replicates. Number of leaves per plant, stem length and diameter, head diameter, mass of fresh and total dry matter, fresh matter mass of leaves and stem were evaluated. For the Lisa and Americana lettuce groups, bed soil cover materials were more efficient when compared to the uncovered beds. For economic and environmental reasons, kraft paper is recommended as a bedding cover material for these cultivars. Variation in growth occurred between the lettuce cultivars, independently of the use of bedding cover. This
 occurred in the sequence: loose leaf > iceberg lettuce> loose-crested leaf group.

Desempenho agronômico de cultivares de alface roxa cultivadas sob diferentes tipos de coberturas de solo

“…Os benefícios das coberturas de solo, seja com material orgânico ou sintético no cultivo de alface, têm sido narrados por vários autores (Favarato et al, 2019;Jahan et al, 2018;Maja et al, 2017;Vendruscolo et al, 2019) e, também, em outras culturas como pimentão (Capsicum annuum L.) (Kumar et al, 2017), arroz (Oryza sativa) (Liang et al, 2017), cenoura (Daucus carota subsp. sativus) (Favarato et al, 2017), tomate (Solanum lycopersicum) (Zhang et al, 2019), batata yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius) (Silva et al, 2018) e melão (Cucumis melo) (Benincasa et al, 2014;Blind & Silva Filho, 2015), que obtiveram como resultado o aumento da produtividade.…”

Desempenho agronômico de abobrinha italiana em diferentes ambientes de cultivo e doses de palha de café

“…Os benefícios do uso de coberturas de solo foram narrados por vários autores no cultivo da alface (Vendruscolo et al, 2021;Favarato et al, 2019;Vendruscolo et al, 2019;Jahan et al, 2018;Maja et al, 2017), pimentão (Kumar et al, 2017), arroz (Liang et al, 2017), cenoura (Favarato et al, 2017), tomate (Zhang et al, 2019), batata (Silva et al, 2018) e melão (Blind et al, 2015;Benincasa et al, 2014).…”