LETTUCE (LACTUCA SATIVA L.) GROWTH RESPONSE TO DIFFERENT TIMES OF LIGHT EXPOSURE IN AEROPONIC SYSTEMS

• Main Author: Puspita Anggraini, Nia
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/51631
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

One of the vegetables that is quite potential to be developed in West Java is lettuce, which is commonly consumed as fresh vegetables. Along with the development of technology, A cultivation system that could increase the growth is needed, one of them is aeroponic. Aeroponics is a cultivation technique that provide water and nutrients in the form of mist that is sprayed on the roots of plants. Long-day plant photoperiod treatment can be done by manipulating the length of day using a TL-fluorescence lamp as replacement of sunlight. Aeroponic system needs more researches regarding the needs of lighting duration in plant growth so that growth works optimally. This research aims to study the effect of the duration of the lighting period on the growth of lettuce (Lactuca sativa. L) var. Romaine and var. Green Curly that’s cultivated on the aeroponic system. This research used a complete randomized design with 4 treatments and 2 replications, the treatments are lighting duration of 12 hours and 20 hours on the different varieties of Romaine lettuce and Green Curly lettuce. Plants were sown for 14 days and transferred to the aeroponic installation for 30 days for the experimental treatment process. Parameters observed in the process of lettuce growth are the number of leaves, stem height, root length, canopy wet weight, and canopy dry weight. The observational data were tested with the Saphiro-Wilk normality test and continued with ANOVA analysis and further DMRT test with a significant level of 5% to determine the difference between the treatment and the variables. Lighting duration is one of the factors that can affect plant growth. Light energy is used by plants in the process of photosynthesis. The results showed that the lighting duration of 20 hours on var. Romaine produced 14.4 leaves, stem height of 16.30 cm, root length of 54.51 cm, crown wet weight of 43.15 g, crown dry weight of 2.16 g and on var. Green Curly produced 11.13 strands, stem height of 20.05 cm, root length of 61.62 cm, canopy wet weight of 38.88 g, and crown dry weight of 2.20 g, Lighting duration of 12 hours gives growth results to the height of the etiolated stem in var. Romaine and var. Green Curly.