Response of crispy lettuce to the use of broiler litter in a consortium with an commercial liquid organomineral fertilizer based on humic substances

Curly lettuce (Lactuca sativa cv crispa) is an annual leafy vegetable, belonging to the Asteraceae family, which stands out in Brazilian vegetable farming as being the vegetable with the greatest commercial value. The crop responds positively to organic fertilization, as the physical-chemical properties of the soil are improved and microorganisms that are beneficial to the crop are developed. In this sense, poultry litter has been a great ally in horticulture, promoting excellent results in the development of the crop. Several other products can be used in a consortium to enhance aerial and root growth, promoting more vigorous plants. The experiment aimed to evaluate the performance of curly lettuce under fertilization of poultry litter (via soil in the preparation of the bed) in combination with different dosages of an organomineral fertilizer composed of humic substances of natural origin (via immersion of the roots of the lettuce when transplanting). Thus, this experiment was conducted on the premises of the Unilasalle University Experimental Station in Lucas do Rio Verde, Mato Grosso, between March 9 and April 19, 2024, using two ten-meter and one five-meter beds, divided in twenty-five plots, with five treatments and five replications in a completely randomized design (DIC), with the following treatments: T1 (control) = 0.0 ton/ha; T2 = 12 tons/ha of poultry litter; T3 = 12 ton/ha of poultry litter + 2.5 ml/L of organomineral fertilizer; T4 = 12 ton/ha of poultry litter + 5.0 ml/L of organomineral fertilizer; T5 = 5.0 ml/L of organomineral fertilizer. Tanned chicken manure was incorporated into the soil of each plot; and in organomineral fertilizer in aqueous solution, the roots of the seedlings were instilled on the day of transplanting. The following technical parameters were therefore evaluated: NDVI index (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), plant size (at transplanting and harvesting), fresh mass, root depth and number of leaves per plant. At the end of the experiment, it was concluded that treatment 2, exclusively with poultry litter, presented the best harvest performance, of lettuce with an average age of 64 days, for the variables: Root Depth, Green Mass, Height and Number of Sheets.