Hydroponic lettuce yield in differents electrical conductivity

Abstract

In hydroponic culture is common to evaluate the concentration of nutrient solution through electrical conductivity (EC). The aim of this work was to evaluate the best electrical conductivity of nutrient solution to lettuce crop, cv. Verônica. Four treatments were studied in differents electrical conductivity of nutrient solution. The Hoagland & Arnon (1950) nutrient solution was used as pattern, which to make several dilution until to get ideal quantities of each nutrient to reach the differents electrical conductivity: 1,0; 1,5; 2,0; 3,0 mS cm-1. The statistic design were blocks, with four treatments and six replications. In the treatment EC = 1,0 mS cm-1 was obtained good yield, with apropriate concentration of N, P, K, Ca, Mg and S and low level of nitrate, lower than the maximum allowed by the Comission of the European Communities.