Effects of organic and mineral fertigation on the yield and nu-tritional quality of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.)

The current high demand for regenerative production systems has stimulated the development and use of biofertilizers as an alternative to mineral fertilizers. This study evaluated the agronomic performance and nutritional quality of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) subjected to different types of fertigation in a very clayey dystrophic Red Latosol soil and in a greenhouse. The experiment was conducted in a randomized block design with four treatments/fertigation: mineral (T1 - AM), Hortbio® (T2 - HB), commercial biofertilizer (T3 - BC), and a control with irrigation using only water (T4 - CO). Four replicates were used. Morpho-agronomic and nutritional variables were evaluated. The results indicated that mineral fertigation promoted greater biomass accumulation, while biofertilizers showed intermediate and very similar performance among themselves. As for the nutritional quality of lettuce plants, biofertilizers showed the best results, with mineral fertilization showing the worst results. This was probably due to the formation of precipitates and other insoluble forms of micronutrients by the high activity of phosphate, carbonate, and hydroxyl ions in the soil solution caused using highly soluble fertilizers in fertilizers in fertigation with mineral fertilizers. This study is aligned with emerging themes such as regenerative agriculture, climate justice and just transition, sustainable development goals, and the Brazilian environmental legal framework.