FERTIGATION AND PULVERIZATION WITH LIQUID MINERAL FERTILIZER DOSES

Resumo

This study evaluated the effect of liquid mineral fertilizer doses applied through fertigation and foliar spraying in lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) Vera cultivar. The treatments resulted from the combination of four doses with two forms of application of the liquid mineral fertilizer and two additional controls. The highest fertilizer dose (0.80 mL plant^-1) applied via foliar spraying obtained 63.51, 59.35 and 42.08% reduction for marketable shoot fresh matter, marketable shoot dry matter and number of marketable leaves, respectively, compared to application via fertigation. For the additional controls, the foliar application of nitrogen obtained increment of 63.48% of marketable shoot fresh matter and 32.55% of the number of marketable leaves in relation to the combined foliar application of nitrogen and liquid mineral fertilizer. According to the results the foliar application of fertilizer linearly decreased marketable shoot fresh matter and the number of marketable leaves due to the likely occurrence of nutritional imbalance and phytotoxicity in plants.