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Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Vol. 13 No. sp5 (2026): Recent Advances in Agriculture

Impact of bioformulations on growth, yield and quality parameters of field-grown lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.)

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.13855
Submitted
27 January 2026
Published
14-07-2026

Abstract

The heavy reliance on fertilisers in crop cultivation has led to soil degradation and human health concerns, particularly in the cultivation of salad crops, where the leaves are consumed fresh.  This necessitates the adoption of organic and bio-based sustainable bioformulations. The field experiment was conducted during the rabi 2024–2025 at the Department of Horticulture, Lovely Professional University, Punjab, to investigate the effects of bioformulations on growth, yield and quality parameters of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) cv. Green Wave. The trial was conducted using a randomised complete block design (RCBD) with 16 different treatments, each replicated 3 times. Statistical significance was assessed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and means were compared using critical difference (CD) at p ≤ 0.05. The investigation revealed that T6 (Arka microbial consortium at 5 kg ha-1+ local microbial consortium at 5 kg ha-1, each mixed at 20 g L-l of water) recorded the highest values for growth and yield parameters i.e., plant height, number of leaves, leaf area, leaf length, leaf width, leaf fresh weight, leaf dry weight, days taken to maturity, yield per pot, yield per hectare followed by T11 (Arka vegetable special at 5 kg ha-1, mixed at 20 g L-1 + seaweed extract 1.5 L ha-1) whereas T13 (Arka microbial consortium at 5 kg ha-1 + neem seed kernel extract 15 L ha-1) recorded higher values for quality parameters such as calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), beta-carotene and vitamin C, followed by T₆.

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