Lettuce growth response to different substrates for soil-less culture

Cultivation of lettuce in various soil-less media was studied with the aim to identify the optimum soil condition for lettuce production. Plant material was Lactuca sativa cv. Geat Late 118. Five different growing media based on zeolite and perlite mixed at different ratios (100z: 0p, 75z:25p, 50z:50p, 25z:75p and 0z:100p, v/v) were tested. Application of zeolite increased head fresh and dry weights, number of leaves and root fresh and dry weights compared to pure perlite. However, different substrates did not affected relative total leaf chlorophyll contents. It was concluded that the use of zeolite led to increased vegetative growth of lettuce.

Keywords:

Zeolite , Perlite , Lettuce