PLANTING TIME INFLUENCES THE PRODUCTION AND QUALITY OF SOME LETTUCE CULTIVARS

Abstract

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) is one of the main leafy green vegetables cultivated worldwide, whose consumption has steadily increased due to its perception as a health-promoting fresh food. It is important in nutrition due to its high content in vitamins and mineral salts. In Romania it is cultivated in the field, early spring and autumn, as well as in greenhouses and poliethzlene tunnels, to obtain production during winter-spring or autumn-winter period. Being a species with a short period of vegetation is cultivated as part of successive crops, before or after a main crop, as well as in associated crops. In temperate climate, lettuce culture is not practiced during summer because in long day conditions associated with high temperatures, plants emit floral stems in most varieties. Experience was carried out between 2021, in western part of Romania, in Baciu, Cluj county, where 14 salad varieties were grown in an ecological system. Growth of salad plants, quantitative and qualitative production, were determined.