EFFECT OF NUTRITION CONCENTRATIONS AND SPRAYING TIME INTERVALS ON THE GROWTH OF GREEN LOOSE LEAF LETTUCE (LACTUCA SATIVA L.) IN AEROPONIC SYSTEM

• Main Author: Yolanda, Febbie
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/51620
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Demands for horticultural commodities in Indonesia increases with the increasing nutritional needs in the community. One of the highest horticultural’s product demands because of its nutritional contents is lettuce. However, high demands of horticultural’s products isn’t balanced by the availability of land for farming due to agricultural land conversion every year. One of the solutions for this problem is using an aeroponic system for lettuce cultivation. This research aims to evaluate the effects of different nutrient concentrations and spraying time intervals on the growth of green loose leaf lettuce in aeroponic system. This research was conducted using modified aeroponic installations with automated lamps exposure times and spraying time intervals. Nutrition used is AB Mix which dissolved in water. Nutrient solution is given by spraying it using a pump, passed through the nozzles inside the chamber so the nutrient solution that received by the plants was in the form of mist. The research used a completely randomized design, 3 treatments and 2 repetitions for each treatments, with combinaton of spraying time intervals, i.e. 2 minutes on, 3 minutes off; 2 minutes on, 5 minutes off; and 2 minutes on, 7 minutes off, and nutrition concentration treatments, i.e. 3 mL/L of water; 5 mL/L of water; and 7 mL/L of water. Data were collected when harvested the lettuce, which is 30 days after transplanting, with observed parameters are number of leaves, root length, stem height, shoot wet weight, and shoot dry weight. Collected data from observation were analyzed by ANOVA and continued with Duncan test with a significant level of 5%. Data analysis was performed using the IBM SPSS Statistic 26 application. The results showed that nutrition concentration of 5 mL/L of water and spray time interval of 2 minutes on and 5 minutes off produced stem height that tends to be high, which is 20.05 cm, root length that tends to be long, which is 61.61 cm, and shoot dry weight that tends to be heavy, which is 2.20 g. Nutrition concentration of 7 mL/L of water and spray time interval of 2 minutes on and 7 minutes off produced the number of leaves that tends to be a lot, which is 11.63 leaves and shoot fresh weight that tends to be heavy, which is 41.63 g. Nutrition concentration of 3 mL/L of water and spray time interval of 2 minutes on and 3 minutes off didn’t produce values that tend to be high on all parameters. Treatment that produced lettuce qualified with market demands is nutrition concentration of 7 mL/L water and spraying time interval of 2 minutes on and 7 minutes off.