Promising composts as growing media for the production of baby leaf lettuce in a floating system
The floating system is a successful strategy for producing baby leaf vegetables. Moreover, compost from agricultural and agri-food industry wastes is an alternative to peat that can be used as a component of growing media in this cultivation system. In this study, we experimented with three composts...
| Authors: | ; ; ; ; ; ; ; |
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| Format: | Article |
| Status: | Published version |
| Publication date: | 2020 |
| Country: | España |
| Institution: | Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena(UPCT) |
| Repository: | Repositorio Digital UPCT |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:repositorio.upct.es:10317/9248 |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10317/9248 https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/10/10/1540 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | Germination Nitrate content Phenolic content Antioxidant capacity Microbial community Producción Vegetal 3107.01 Producción de Cultivos |
| _version_ | 1878733398375137280 |
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| author | Giménez Martínez, Almudena |
| author2 | Fernández Hernández, Juan Antonio Pascual Valero, José Antonio Ros Muñoz, Margarita Gruda, Nazim Sáez Tovar, José Antonio Martínez Sabater, Encarnación Egea Gilabert, Catalina |
| author2_role | author author author author author author author |
| author_browse | Egea Gilabert, Catalina Fernández Hernández, Juan Antonio Giménez Martínez, Almudena Gruda, Nazim Martínez Sabater, Encarnación Pascual Valero, José Antonio Ros Muñoz, Margarita Sáez Tovar, José Antonio |
| author_facet | Giménez Martínez, Almudena Fernández Hernández, Juan Antonio Pascual Valero, José Antonio Ros Muñoz, Margarita Gruda, Nazim Sáez Tovar, José Antonio Martínez Sabater, Encarnación Egea Gilabert, Catalina |
| author_role | author |
| collection | Repositorio Digital UPCT |
| description | The floating system is a successful strategy for producing baby leaf vegetables. Moreover, compost from agricultural and agri-food industry wastes is an alternative to peat that can be used as a component of growing media in this cultivation system. In this study, we experimented with three composts containing tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), leek (Allium porrum L.), grape (Vitis vinifera L.), and/or olive (Olea europaea L.) mill cake residues, which were used as the main component (75/25 volume/volume) of three growing media (GM1, GM2 and GM3) to evaluate their e_ect on the growth and quality of red baby leaf lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.). We used a commercial peat substrate as a control treatment (100% volume) and in mixtures (25% volume) with the composts. The plants were cultivated over two growing cycles, in spring and summer, and harvested twice in each cycle when the plants had four to five leaves. We found that the percentage of seed germination was significantly higher in plants grown in peat than in those grown in compost growing media. The yield was a_ected by the growing media in the summer cycle, and we obtained the highest value with GM1. Furthermore, the second cut was more productive than the first one for all the growing media in both cycles. The lettuce quality was also a_ected by the growing media. In general, the total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity in the leaves was higher in plants grown in the compost growing media, particularly in the second cut, but the nitrate content in the leaves was greater in some of the compost treatments compared with the peat treatment. In addition, an in vitro suppressive activity study demonstrated that the interaction between di_erent fungi and bacteria observed through metagenomics analysis could contribute to the e_ectiveness of the compost in controlling Pythium irregulare. The use of compost as a component of the growing media in the production of baby leaf vegetables in a floating system does not only favor the crop yield and producto quality, but also shows suppressive e_ects against P. irregulare. |
| eu_rights_str_mv | openAccess |
| format | article |
| id | ES_5567da4fa04bfcde9a4ac4cf013b2ca3 |
| institution | Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena(UPCT) |
| instname_str | Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena(UPCT) |
| network_acronym_str | ES |
| network_name_str | España |
| oai_identifier_str | oai:repositorio.upct.es:10317/9248 |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publishDateSort | 2020 |
| publisher | MDPI |
| publisherStr | MDPI |
| reponame_str | Repositorio Digital UPCT |
| spelling | Promising composts as growing media for the production of baby leaf lettuce in a floating system Giménez Martínez, Almudena Fernández Hernández, Juan Antonio Pascual Valero, José Antonio Ros Muñoz, Margarita Gruda, Nazim Sáez Tovar, José Antonio Martínez Sabater, Encarnación Egea Gilabert, Catalina Germination Nitrate content Phenolic content Antioxidant capacity Microbial community Producción Vegetal 3107.01 Producción de Cultivos The floating system is a successful strategy for producing baby leaf vegetables. Moreover, compost from agricultural and agri-food industry wastes is an alternative to peat that can be used as a component of growing media in this cultivation system. In this study, we experimented with three composts containing tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), leek (Allium porrum L.), grape (Vitis vinifera L.), and/or olive (Olea europaea L.) mill cake residues, which were used as the main component (75/25 volume/volume) of three growing media (GM1, GM2 and GM3) to evaluate their e_ect on the growth and quality of red baby leaf lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.). We used a commercial peat substrate as a control treatment (100% volume) and in mixtures (25% volume) with the composts. The plants were cultivated over two growing cycles, in spring and summer, and harvested twice in each cycle when the plants had four to five leaves. We found that the percentage of seed germination was significantly higher in plants grown in peat than in those grown in compost growing media. The yield was a_ected by the growing media in the summer cycle, and we obtained the highest value with GM1. Furthermore, the second cut was more productive than the first one for all the growing media in both cycles. The lettuce quality was also a_ected by the growing media. In general, the total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity in the leaves was higher in plants grown in the compost growing media, particularly in the second cut, but the nitrate content in the leaves was greater in some of the compost treatments compared with the peat treatment. In addition, an in vitro suppressive activity study demonstrated that the interaction between di_erent fungi and bacteria observed through metagenomics analysis could contribute to the e_ectiveness of the compost in controlling Pythium irregulare. The use of compost as a component of the growing media in the production of baby leaf vegetables in a floating system does not only favor the crop yield and producto quality, but also shows suppressive e_ects against P. irregulare. This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness: Reference project: AGL2017-84085-C3-1-R, AGL2017-84085-C3-2-R, AGL2017-84085-C3-3-R. MDPI http://hdl.handle.net/10317/9248 https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/10/10/1540 |
| spellingShingle | Promising composts as growing media for the production of baby leaf lettuce in a floating system Giménez Martínez, Almudena Germination Nitrate content Phenolic content Antioxidant capacity Microbial community Producción Vegetal 3107.01 Producción de Cultivos |
| status_str | publishedVersion |
| title | Promising composts as growing media for the production of baby leaf lettuce in a floating system |
| title_full | Promising composts as growing media for the production of baby leaf lettuce in a floating system |
| title_fullStr | Promising composts as growing media for the production of baby leaf lettuce in a floating system |
| title_full_unstemmed | Promising composts as growing media for the production of baby leaf lettuce in a floating system |
| title_short | Promising composts as growing media for the production of baby leaf lettuce in a floating system |
| title_sort | Promising composts as growing media for the production of baby leaf lettuce in a floating system |
| topic | Germination Nitrate content Phenolic content Antioxidant capacity Microbial community Producción Vegetal 3107.01 Producción de Cultivos |
| topic_facet | Germination Nitrate content Phenolic content Antioxidant capacity Microbial community Producción Vegetal 3107.01 Producción de Cultivos |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/10317/9248 https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/10/10/1540 |