Production of Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) Under Protective Cultivation Using Vermicompost as Soil Amendment

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out on the growth and yield performance of two lettuce varieties as influenced by the level of vermicompost under low elevated plastic tunnel from December 2015 to February 2016 at Bunawan, Agusan del Sur. The experiment was laid out a 2x3 Factorial Experiment in randomized complete block (RCB) design with four replications consisting of two lettuce varieties (Green Towers and Corelle) and three levels of vermicompost (1 kg, 1.5 kg and 2 kg). The result showed that among growth parameters only plant height and width of leaves were found significantly different regarding variety. However, all growth and yield characteristics of lettuce were significantly influenced by the level of vermicompost, the mean values of all parameters markedly increased with increasing rate of vermicompost. On the other hand, the study revealed that low elevated tunnel was not able to attain the ideal temperature, relative humidity and light intensity for the optimum production of lettuce except for the protection it gave to the plants against the impact of heavy rainfall. The interaction effect between two variety of lettuce and level of vermicompost was found not significant in all parameter.