Articles
Biochemical and morphological characteristics of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) cultivated in a hydroponic system and soil
Article number
1391_15
Pages
107 – 112
Language
English
Abstract
The studyRSQUOs objective was to evaluate whether hydroponically grown lettuce is comparable to lettuce grown in soil regarding its morphological and biochemical properties.
The experiment was conducted from May to July 2021 in a plastic greenhouse at the Laboratory field at the Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Three growing systems were used: A deep water culture system (hydroponic), a bed covered with black and white PE mulch, and an uncovered bed (bare soil). The experiment was laid out in 4 replicates.
On the plants sampled weekly and the technologically mature plants, the morphological characteristics were measured, such as above-ground plant mass (g), stem length, and biochemical parameters: the content of chlorophyll a and b, total carotenoids, ascorbic acid content and total phenolic content.
The moisture content of the plants was also measured on air-dried samples.
Hydroponic plants reached marketable weight in 22 days, compared to 27 days for those grown on plastic mulch and 39 days for those grown on bare soil.
The marketable mass of rosettes at the time of technological maturity was 420±60 g in hydroponics, 369±30 g on PE mulch and 268±28 g on bare soil.
The cultivation system had no significant effect on the content of pigments and ascorbic acid, as well as on the moisture content of the lettuce plant.
Growing plants in the soil resulted in higher levels of phenolic compounds compared to hydroponic growth.
Rosettes on bare soil had 800±120 mg GAE kg‑1 DM total phenolic content, while those on PE mulch had 657±88 mg GAE kg‑1 DM. In hydroponic rosettes, total phenolic content was only 422±67 mg GAE kg‑1 DM.
The experiment was conducted from May to July 2021 in a plastic greenhouse at the Laboratory field at the Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Three growing systems were used: A deep water culture system (hydroponic), a bed covered with black and white PE mulch, and an uncovered bed (bare soil). The experiment was laid out in 4 replicates.
On the plants sampled weekly and the technologically mature plants, the morphological characteristics were measured, such as above-ground plant mass (g), stem length, and biochemical parameters: the content of chlorophyll a and b, total carotenoids, ascorbic acid content and total phenolic content.
The moisture content of the plants was also measured on air-dried samples.
Hydroponic plants reached marketable weight in 22 days, compared to 27 days for those grown on plastic mulch and 39 days for those grown on bare soil.
The marketable mass of rosettes at the time of technological maturity was 420±60 g in hydroponics, 369±30 g on PE mulch and 268±28 g on bare soil.
The cultivation system had no significant effect on the content of pigments and ascorbic acid, as well as on the moisture content of the lettuce plant.
Growing plants in the soil resulted in higher levels of phenolic compounds compared to hydroponic growth.
Rosettes on bare soil had 800±120 mg GAE kg‑1 DM total phenolic content, while those on PE mulch had 657±88 mg GAE kg‑1 DM. In hydroponic rosettes, total phenolic content was only 422±67 mg GAE kg‑1 DM.
Authors
N. Kacjan Maršić , M. Mikulič-Petkovšek, A. Slatnar, V. Žitko
Keywords
cultivation system, yield, quality assessment, nutritive value
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