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DEEP TILLAGE AS A BASIC PREREQUISITE FOR INCREASING THE YIELD OF LETTUCE IN GREENHOUSES
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1  Institute for Vegetable Crops
Academic Editor: Oscar Vicente

Published: 02 December 2024 by MDPI in The 4th International Electronic Conference on Agronomy session Crops
Abstract:

In conditions of intensive greenhouse vegetable production, lettuce production during the winter without heating occupies a significant place in the crop rotation after tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. In addition to being profitable, this type of salad production provides the benefits of phytoextracting excess nutrients and eliminating pathogens and weeds. This research was performed at the Institute for Vegetable Crops in Smederevska Palanka and a purple variety of leafy lettuce; Viola was chosen as the plant material. The experiment followed a random block system with three repetitions in the irrigation system and two types of cultivation: deep tillage (50 cm) and shallow tillage (15 cm). Lettuce was planted at a spacing of 20×25 cm. In both cases of soil cultivation, two types of organic fertilizers were separately applied following the manufacturer's instructions: 1) vermicompost—Lumbrikum Radovanović; 2) briquetted chicken manure—Nervosol organic NPK 4-3-4. The control involved soil cultivation without fertilizer application. The results of our research indicate that deep tillage had a statistically significant impact on the plant height, leaf width, leaf length, leaf color, weight of the aerial part of the plant, and total plant weight. The highest lettuce yield (6.98 kg m-2) was achieved on deeply tilled soil in which Nervosol organic NPK 4-3-4 was incorporated, while the highest yield on shallow tilled soil (5.82 kg m-2) was measured in the treatment with the vermicompost. The yield in the control on deeply tilled soil was 4.87 kg m-2, while on shallow tilled soil, it was 4.01 kg m-2. Deep tillage, combined with the usage of Nervosol organic NPK 4-3-4, was shown to be an effective method for increasing lettuce yield compared to the shallow tilling control. In situations where deep tillage is not possible, the usage of vermicompost is a good alternative.

Keywords: Lactuca sativa L., tillage, fertilizer, yield.
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