CAPIZ

STATE UNIVERSITY
BURIAS CAMPUS
COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY
Burias, Mambusao, Capiz, Philippines

GROWTH AND YIELD PERFORMANCE

OF LETTUCE (Lactuca sativa L.)
APPLIED WITH SNAP SOLUTION

(Laboratory Exercise No. 2)

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A Laboratory Exercise
Submitted to Prof. Francisco T. Lutao Jr.
Professor of College of Agriculture and Forestry
CAPIZ STATE UNIVERSITY - BURIAS CAMPUS
Burias, Mambusao, Capiz

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In partial fulfillment
of the requirements for Soil Sci 108: Inorganic Plant Nutrition

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JESSA D. CASTILLO
DIETHER A. DAVID
KIM B. FERRO
MECCA JOY V. PASTRANA
MARY JANE C. VILLAGRACIA
Bachelor of Science in Agriculture
Major in Soil Science

INTRODUCTION
 Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) is one of the most commonly grown hydroponic vegetables.

Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil. Plants may be grown in a nutrient

solution only (liquid culture) or they may be supported by an inert medium (aggregate culture).

In both systems, all of the plants’ nutritional needs are supplied through the irrigation water.

Hydroponics is a highly exacting and demanding system that requires a greater amount of

production knowledge, experience, technical skill and financial investment than many other

greenhouse systems. A grower must be committed to meeting the daily demands of production to

be successful (Kaiser and Ernst, 2012).

A complete nutrient formulation provides all essential elements to the plants. Lettuce

seedlings are fed a half-strength solution until they are transplanted. A half-strength solution

contains about one-half of the concentration of macroelements, but the full concentration of

microelements (Resh, undated). The macro- and micronutrient composition of a hydroponic

solution determine plant growth, leaf number, leaf area, marketable yield, and crop quality

including mineral and chlorophyll content (Conesa et al., 2008; Fallovo et al., 2009).

Even though hydroponic culture can produce optimal plant growth (better yield and

quality), its efficiency depends on many factors such as nutrient availability, crop genotype,

growing method, and pest management (Spehia et al., 2018). According to Sapkota et al. (2019),

the hydroponic culture of lettuce, the results have been inconclusive about the influence of

cultivar and nutrient solution composition on lettuce performance.

Hydroponic experiment in lettuce is to study the growth and development of lettuce

plants in a soilless environment. In hydroponics, plants are grown in a nutrient – rich water

solution, which is continuously recirculated, providing the necessary nutrients to the plants.
 Objectives

This study aimed to evaluate the growth and yield performance of lettuce in a hydroponic

experiment applied with SNAP solution.

 MATERIALS AND METHODS

Materials

The materials that were used in the study are: 4 fruit box, 32 styro cup, foam, plastic

bottle with SNAP solution, packing tape, polyethylene plastic, seed bed, lettuce seeds, scissor,

cutter, bamboo, nails, bolo, record notebook, tape measure, ballpen and digital weighing scale.

Methods

Experimental Treatments

Experimental Design and Lay-out

Figure 1.

Management Practices

Materials and area Preparation

Planting

Fertilizer Collection, Preparation and Application

Application of SNAP solution

Water Management

Prevention and control of Pest and diseases

Harvesting and post-harvest operations

Data Gathering
Growth Parameter

Yield Parameter

Results and Discussions

Table 2. Growth parameter of Lettuce in a hydroponics experiment.

Replication Plant Height No. of Leaves Root Length Biomass
(cm) (cm) (g)
1 10.81 8.05 15.76 115
2 9.65 7.2 16.18 64
3 9.07 7.55 19.46 76
4 9.26 7.56 13.64 70
Growth of Lettuce applied with SNAP Solution
Grand Total 38.79 30.36 65.04 325
140 Mean 9.6975 7.59 16.26 81.25
120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Plant Height (cm) No. of Leaves Root Length (cm) Biomass (g)

Rep 1 Rep 2 Rep 3 Rep 4

 Table 2. Yield parameter of Lettuce in a hydroponics experiment.
Replication Yield Marketable Yield Non-marketable
(g) (g) Yield (g)
1 97 75 22
2 53 15 38
3 51 30 21
4 51 41 10
Grand Total 252 161 91
Mean 63 40.25 22.75

Yield of Lettuce applied with SNAP Solution

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Yield (g)) Marketable Yield (g) Non-marketable Yield (g)

Rep 1 Rep 2 Rep 3 Rep 4

REFERENCE

Conesa, E., Niñirola, D., Vicente, M. J., Ochoa, J., Bañón, S., & Fernández, J. A. (2008).
The influence of nitrate/ammonium ratio on yield quality and nitrate, oxalate and vitamin
C content of baby leaf spinach and bladder campion plants grown in a floating system.
In International Symposium on Soilless Culture and Hydroponics 843 (pp. 269-274).
Fallovo, C., Rouphael, Y., Cardarelli, M., Rea, E., Battistelli, A., & Colla, G. (2009). Yield
and quality of leafy lettuce in response to nutrient solution composition and growing
season. J. Food Agric. Environ, 7(2), 456-462.

Kaiser, C., & Ernst, M. (2012). Hydroponic lettuce. University of Kentucky College Of

Agriculture, Food and Environment.

Resh, H. (undated). Hydroponic Lettuce Production I.

http://howardresh.com/dr-howard-resh-
hydroponic-services/hydroponic-lettuce-production-i/

Sapkota, S., Sapkota, S., & Liu, Z. (2019). Effects of Nutrient Composition and Lettuce Cultivar
on Crop Production in Hydroponic Culture. Horticulturae, 5(4), 72.
https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae5040072

Spehia, R. S., Devi, M., Singh, J., Sharma, S., Negi, A., Singh, S., Chauhan, N., Sharma, D., &
Sharma, J. C. (2018). Lettuce growth and yield in hoagland solution with an organic
concoction. International Journal of Vegetable Science, 24(6), 557-566.