ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY OF NUTRIENT SOLUTION ON GROWTH AND QUALITY OF BABY LEAF LETTUCE, BEET AND ARUGULA

• Grant number: 25/07566-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: October 01, 2025
• End date: December 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Crop Science
• Principal Investigator: Arthur Bernardes Cecílio Filho
• Grantee: Fernanda Abduche Galvão Pimentel
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The indoor cultivation system, known as plant factory and indoor farm, has been gaining the attention of producers as an alternative production method, where baby leaves are an excellent option. The concentration of nutrients in the nutrient solution, measured by electrical conductivity (EC), is of utmost importance for the success of the production system, as it affects the growth, production and quality of the harvested product. Therefore, the objective of this study is, keeping the nutrient proportion, to evaluate the effect of increasing the concentration of these nutrients on the growth, biochemical, nutritional, production and quality characteristics of baby leaf lettuce, beetroot and arugula, in an indoor cultivation system. Each experiment, corresponding to a species, will have four treatments, in a strip experimental design, with five replicates. The treatments correspond to the electrical conductivities of the nutrient solutions 1.0; 1.5; 2.0 and 2.5 dS m-1. After 20 days under irradiance, for the three species, evaluations will be carried out of length and number of leaves, leaf area, fresh and dry mass of the aerial part, macro and micronutrient contents in the aerial part, instrumental color of the three largest leaves, and contents of chlorophyll, carotenoids, vitamin C and phenolic compounds. For beetroot, the contents of anthocyanins, batocyanin and betaxanthin and glucosinolates for arugula will also be evaluated.