CONSERVAÇÃO E QUALIDADE PÓS-COLHEITA DE ALFACE CULTIVADA COM ORGÂNICA (AGROINDUSTRIAL E SUINO) EM AMBIENTE PROTEGIDO

Abstract

In Brazil, there is an increasing in demand for organic products, and lettuce is the most popular leafy vegetable consumed. Many kind of organic fertilizer can be used in this vegetable production, including swine and agro industrial waste from slaughterhouse discharges from pigs and chickens, both stabilized by composting. An experiment was carried out at the Federal Institute of Education, Science ,and Technology, Concórdia Campus, in the municipality of Concórdia, Santa Catarina State, Brazil, from March to August 2018, to evaluate the behavior and postharvest characterization and dynamics of crisp-type lettuce Brida cv. (Lactuca sativa L.). A completely randomized design was used in a 4 x 5 factorial arrangement in triplicate in two planting cycles, composed of four types of fertilization (chemical, agroindustrial biosolid, swine waste, and control) and evaluated at five days refrigerated storage after harvesting (0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 days). The parameters evaluated were chlorophyll content, total soluble solids, titratable total acidity, vitamin C, pH, water activity, mass loss, color instrumental parameters, total count of mesophiles, Salmonella sp., and thermotolerant coliforms. The lettuces produced in organic cultivation had the same loss of mass during the storage compared to those produced with chemical fertilization and without fertilization. In the physicochemical analyzes, there was a difference between the two production cycles, a fact that may have been influenced by the air temperature during the cultivation stage. The organic lettuce had microbiological quality within the recommended, being acceptable for human consumption.