The Influence of Mulching and GA3+Iron Mixture on Head Folding,Bitterness and Quality of Produced Seeds of Lettuce Lactuca sativa var. Longifolia cv. Marul.

Volume 17 , Issue 3 , September 2015 , Pages 1-12

Authors

¹ University of Sulaimani, Facultry of Agricultural Sciences, Horiculture Dept. Kurdistan Region-Iraq

² University of Dohuk, College of Agriculture, Horiculture Dept. Kurdistan Region – Iraq

This study was carried out during the period between November, 2013 and August, 2014

to decrease unfolding, bitterness and tip burns through adopting a new screening method

and to produce lettuce seeds and head yields of high qualities. Seeds and plants raised

from them were treated with mixtures of [0 and 10 mg.l-1 GA3 + 25 mg.l-1 Fe, 10 mg.l-1

GA3 + 50 mg.l-1 Fe and 10 mg.l-1 GA3+ 75mg.l-1 Fe]. Plants grown on mulched and

unmulched soils. Mulched soil plants displayed superiority over bare soil in terms:

number of unfolded leaves, stem length and leaves number by 48.75, 110.85 and

22.23%, respectively. However, unmulched soil bypassed mulched soil in T.S.S. and dry

matter percentages of folded leaves, unfolded leaves, stem and folded leaf base (23.96,

19.41, 30.59, 22.17, 18.52, 28.6, 18.54 and 27.24%, respectively). Lettuce grown on

mulched soil revealed superiority over that grown on bare soil in N content of folded and

unfolded leaves (23.1 and 68.75%, respectively), K content of folded leaves, stem and

folded leaf base (57.85, 42.02 and 24.43%, respectively), Fe content of stem and folded

leaf base (106.11 and 54.02 g.kg-1, respectively), Ca content of folded leaves, unfolded

leaves, stem and folded leaf base (424.09, 235.96, 206.02 and 296.78%, respectively). 10

mg.l-1 GA3 + 75 mg.l-1 Fe displayed preponderance over untreated plants in head fresh

weight (26.43%), head yield (26.16%), TSS (15.52%), branches number after chopping

(92.9%), branch heights (66.98%) leaf number (30.82%), B content of folded leaves and

stem (143.23 and 57.89%, respectively), N content of the folded leaf base (49.73%), K

content of folded leaves (7.15%), Fe content of stem (152.14%) and Cu content of stem

(39.54%). Lettuce plant treated by 10 mg.l-1 GA3 + 50 mg.l-1 Fe grown on mulched soil

overwhelmed other dual interaction treatments as it showed the highest values in head

fresh weight (821 g), head yield.m-2 (4.93 kg), weight of folded leaves (483.75 g),

number of unfolded leaves (23.75) and weight of unfolded leaves (335 g).

Statistics