The effect of different compost applications in organic production of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.)

Summary in the original language of the document

It is well-known that compost and manure applications to all kinds of soils if these organic materials are mature and composted under favorable conditions result in improved soil fertility and crop production in terms of yield and quality, but because manure is expensive in our region and the application of in-farm production compost for organic lands and farms of Turkey is limited, there is a great and urgent need for demonstrate compost using advantages to soil fertility, plant yield-quality and food safety (Kir 2006). Vegetables account for only approximately 2% of total organic production in Turkey, but there is great potential for growth of organic production for both export and domestic consumption of organic products in our country. Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) is one of the most important species for testing effects of compost applications because of its sensitivity related with phyto-toxic effects of compost (Fuchs et al. 2008) and very important to find out productivity and sustainable production levels in crop production. It is obtained from the results at the end of the first two-year trials, respectively of the three year-planned research under organic management (framework of regulations of EU and Turkey) that (1) the artificial organic materials sourced from farms can be composted and applied to lettuce production to get a great profit in terms of environment and economic aspects of organic lettuce production significantly, (2) promising improvement of industry of compost production can be expected, (3) Organic lettuce can be consumed as microbiologically safe, (4) high quality lettuce production can be attained by using compost.