Vermitea and Snap's Potential as a Nutrient Solution for Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) Under Non-circulating Hydropronics System

Purpose: The study was conducted to evaluate the growth performance of lettuce on Simple Nutrient Addition Program (SNAP) solution in combination with different vermitea. It aimed to determine the combined effects of different vermitea and SNAP solution and find out if vermitea could replace 50%of the SNAP solution, and give the best result in return on investment.
Research Method: The STAR version 2.0.1 software was used to statistically analyse the data, and Tukey’s Test was used to compare treatment means at the 1% level of significance. Three hundred fifteen lettuce plants were used in the study and distributed to fifteen experimental units, wherein each treatment was replicated three times.
Findings and Values: The different combinations of nutrient solutions and vermitea had significant effects on lettuce growth performance. Treatment 1 produced the highest lettuce growth and production. The treatments with different vermitea in combination with 50% SNAP. Treatment 2 (50% SNAP + 20 ml/L of vermitea-cow manure) outperformed all other treatment combinations and negative controls by a substantial margin. This significant difference obtained by Treatment 2 were attributed to the results on the leaf width, root length, root volume, weight of the roots, weight of leaves per plant, and total weight of treatments. This study may serve as a more effective approach to achieve enhanced crop productivity and mitigate the negative effect of nitrogen-based fertilizer on the environment.