COBALT-INDUCED STRESS IN SOILLESS LETTUCE CULTIVATION: I. EFFECT ON YIELD AND POLLUTANT ACCUMULATION

An experiment developed in soilless culture was used to study the effect of several levels of Co²⁺ (0, 5, 10 and 20 mg L^-1) on yield of lettuce (lactuca sativa cv.
Malta) in soilless-greenhouse system.
Also accumulation of this pollutant in different vegetal parts were studied.

Co root absorption was very high and intense in time of exposition with no direct relation between accumulation in root and background levels of pollutant in nutrient solution.
In the edible part, cobalt presence in some cases rises to values around 600 μg Co g^-1. This experiment showed a similar non linear evolution in cobalt storage in leaf.
Transport from root to leaf was higher depending Co basal treatment.
Increasing concentration of cobalt in nutrient solution reduced drastically yield in lettuce plants.
Other morphological parameters like root weight and root length were negatively influenced by cobalt presence.

International Symposium on Water Quality & Quantity-Greenhouse

J. Moreno-Caselles, A. Pérez-Espinosa, M.D. Pérez-Murcia, R. Moral, I. Gómez

lactuca sativa, pollutant, uptake, transport

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1998.458.28