Cultivo de quatro variedades de alface "baby leaf" em sistema de aquaponia em comparação ao cultivo em substrato

Abstract

The concept of baby leaf has been gaining prominence in Brazilian agriculture due to its reduced size, practicality of preparation and because it is a growing market niche. Therefore, the objective of this work was to evaluate the growth and development of lettuce (Lactuca sativa) baby leaf cultivars Desirade, Barlach, Stefano and Sartre in a water recirculation system in aquaponics as compared to substrate cultivation in an oven. The treatment system consisted of a unit containing fish, where water was distributed through the pump to the boxes with the plants. In substrate treatments were composed of duplicates of each cultivar. In aquaponics, nitrogen (nitrite and nitrate), ammonia and phosphate analyzes were performed every four days of the experiment, in aquaponics and fish tanks. The parameters chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and total chlorophyll, leaf and shoot length, root length and number of leaves were evaluated in substrate and aquaponics. The data collected were submitted to analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results showed that the cultivars Sartre, Stefano, Desirade and Barlach did not present significant differences when compared in the laboratory and greenhouse. However, they showed a significant difference when compared to greenhouse and laboratory, demonstrating that although the cultivars in aquaponics developed well, the greenhouse plants had better growth and development.