THE POTENTIAL USE OF SOILLESS AND SOIL BASED GROWING MEDIA, INCLUDING GRAPES RESIDUE AS AN INTRODUCTORY EVALUATION, FOR THE PRODUCTION OF LACTUCA SATIVA L. THROUGH BAG CULTURE.

The seeds and the subsequent transplants of important salad crop, lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.), were grown in different organic and inorganic soilless rooting media (hydroponic substrates), including soil-based and glasshouse border soil. The seedlings obtained from the seedling media (SM) performed differently with regard to seedling height and stem diameter, but remained non-significant for number of leaves of seedlings. Different planting media (PM) showed variable results from significant to non-significant with regard to physical parameters of the harvested crop. However, in most case, SM x PM interactions were proved to be non-significant, except plant height and weight of marketable outmost single leaf that were significant to SM and PM interaction. Over all, Perlite, peat compost, border soil and relatively straw bale, alone or in combination, were better when compared with soil-based compost and grapes marc. High tip burn was recorded, attributed to the relatively higher temperature of glasshouse near the stage of crop maturity.