ISHS Acta Horticulturae 511: XXV International Horticultural Congress, Part 1: Culture Techniques with Special Emphasis on Environmental Implications - Nutrient Management
YIELD AND QUALITY OF EARLY HEAD LETTUCE IN RELATION TO PHOSPHATE FERTILIZATION AND PHOSPHATE STATUS OF THE SOIL |
| Authors: | C. van Wijk, J. Neuvel, J. Alblas, H. Titulaer |
| Keywords: | Lactuca sativa L. var. capitata, P fertiliser dressing, P removal, P status, P uptake, phosphate |
| Abstract:
In the Netherlands, the advised amount of phosphate (P) applied to field vegetables is much higher than the P removal by marketable yield. This increases the risk of P leaching to the environment. Reliable data for an adjustment of the phosphate advice fail. So new P experiments were necessary. In 1996 research on phosphate fertilisation was started with leek, carrots, cauliflower and head lettuce as pilot crops. The optimum P status in the topsoil related to these different crops needs to be investigated, and optimum P rate at different soil P's has to be known. Data of total and marketable yield, P uptake during the growth and at harvest, P removal and root development were collected. The field experiments serve tools to validate a mechanistic simulation model that describes the P requirement of vegetable crops. This model serves as a tool for deriving new fertilisation schemes This paper describes and discusses the results of early head lettuce (LactucasativaL.var.capitata), cultivated at different levels of P status of the soil, combined with different rates of P fertiliser dressing. In the years 1996–1998, research was carried out to study the influence of a range of P fertiliser dressing at 12 locations with different types of soil. The research to the influence of different levels of the P status of the soil was done at the PAV location in Lelystad with the following objects: four levels of the P status of the soil; two levels of P fertiliser dressing; cultivation with and without crop covering (agryl). The optimum P fertiliser dressing is strongly linked with the P status of the soil and the cultivation method. Because of the strong phosphate need of lettuce and the rather immobility of phosphate in the soil, there is a big yield response of phosphate fertilisation on soils with a low P level. At the cultivation of early head lettuce, the adjustment to an environmentally sound P advice should have consequences for the yield. | |
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