Sensorial analysis of commercial quality of lettuce grown on different substrates

Regional residues of agricultural, livestock and forestry activities can be used in the formulation of substrates that allow the adequate supply of nutrients in family agricultural production. The objective of this research was to determine the efficiency of different formulations of substrates enriched with babassu biochar for the commercial development of lettuce through sensorial analysis. The experiment was conducted in the period from November 2016 to February 2017. The design was completely randomized, with nine treatments and 15 replicates. Dystrophic Yellow Latosol (dYL), increasing doses of biochar (B); organic fertilizer (OF) and mineral fertilizer (MF) were used in the substrate preparation. The treatments evaluated were: S1 = dYL, S2 = dYL +10 t ha-1B, S3 = dYL +20 t ha-1B, S4 = dYL 30 t ha-1 B, S5 = dYL + 2 t ha-1 OF, S6 = dYL + 5 t ha-1 OF, S7 = dYL +8 t ha-1 OF, S8 = dYL +10 t ha-1 B + 2 t ha-1 OF, S9 = dYL + MF. At 80 days after sowing, sensory analyzes were carried out in order to judge the visual characteristics of the lettuce per treatment. Based on the multicriteria analysis the S4 substrate, the one that contain 30 t ha-1 of biochar proved to be the most successful substrate to comply with the study variables. Thus, the use of biochar can be considered as a viable alternative to mineral fertilizer in terms of sensory analysis.