Performance of lettuce (Lectuca sativa) under different soil-less cultures

The present study was carried out at DIBER (DRDO) Haldwani, Uttarakhand (India) to study the effect of three different growing conditions, viz., soil grown system, soil-less and hydroponics system on productivity and quality of lettuce. Considering the shrinking land resources and water scarcity problem, techniques with efficient use water, space and nutrient are getting popular. Soil-less cultivation is one such technique. Experimental findings have revealed that soil-less system offers better productivity of lettuce crop to the tune of 3–4 times higher than soil grown system with better quality produce. Lettuce crop under hydroponics system developed profuse root system with average root length of 31.0 cm and fresh weight of 1.12 kg whereas under soil grown system the average root length was the minimum (10.0 cm) with minimum fresh weight of roots (0.152 kg). Ascorbic acid was the highest in the hydroponically grown crop of lettuce (11.2 mg/100g). crop grown under soil-less vertical system exhibited the highest phenol content. Flavonoid content was at par among the hydroponics and soil-less system but was quite low in the soil grown lettuce.