Use of remineralisers associated with organic fertilizer in lettuce growing

Lettuce, considered one of the most consumed leafy vegetables in Brazil, requires constant chemical inputs to maintain the plant's nutritional quality and reach harvest stage. Aiming to reduce chemical use, this study aimed to evaluate lettuce crop development when applied to different doses of shale or gabbro combined with cattle manure to determine the potential of this remineralizer as an alternative fertilizer. To this end, soil, cattle manure, and four doses of shale or gabbro were tested on lettuce plants, evaluating the following parameters: germination, number of leaves, stem diameter, root length, plant height, fresh and dry mass of the shoot, and fresh and dry mass of the root. Agronomic data were subjected to analysis of variance, and the means were analyzed using Tukey's test. It was observed that the treatments SEX1, SEG1, SEG2, and SEG3 required fewer days to emerge than the others. Regarding the agronomic results, statistical differences were observed in all treatments, except for leaf number. Thus, it was found that lettuce plants developed better when the doses of 68.79 g/plant of shale and 54.34 g/plant of gabbro were combined in the soil, under controlled conditions.