EFFECT OF ORGANIC FERTILIZATION ON LETTUCE PRODUCTION

Abstract

The cultivation of vegetables with organic fertilizers has increased significantly due to the high costs of mineral fertilizers and the beneficial effects on the soil and plants. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of organic fertilizers on lettuce production. The experiment was conducted at the Rural School of Andradina - Brazil, São Paulo State, from August to September 2022. The experimental design used was randomized blocks with 3 replications, consisting of 4 treatments: control - without fertilization; poultry manure, cattle manure and castor bean cake. The results were subjected to analysis of variance and the means compared by the Tukey test, at a 5% probability level, using the CCA-UFSCar software. It was concluded that organic fertilization with castor bean cake and poultry manure contributed to significantly increase production, resulting in plants with greater leaf weight, as well as root length, when compared to cattle manure and the control. The recommendation is to use poultry manure as it is more accessible and low-cost when compared to castor bean cake, which makes it economically viable, contributing to an increase in production and the producer's income.