Use of Senna uniflora as Organic Fertilizer in the Production of Lettuce in the Brazilian Semiarid

The use of plant resources available on the farm, and of great relevance to the family farmers of the Northeastern semi-arid region, Brazil. The experiment was carried in the experimental area of the agricultural science center, Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-árido (UFERSA), Mossoró, Brazil, with the objective of evaluating use of Senna uniflora as organic fertilizer in the production of lettuce in the Brazilian semiarid, from October 2014 to February 2015. The experimental design of randomized complete blocks with the treatments arranged in 4 × 4 factorial scheme, with three replicates. The first factor consisted of amounts S. uniflora (0, 1.8, 3.6, and 5.4 kg m-2 of dry matter) with four incorporation times into the soil (0; 28; 56 and 84 days before transplanting lettuce). The transplanted lettuce cultivar went was the “Elba”. The evaluated characteristics were the following: plant height, diameter plant, number of leaves per plant, green mass production and dry mass production. The best agronomic efficiency was obtained with soil incorporation of 5.4 kg m-2 in the incorporation period of 56 days after transplanting, with phytomass production of 235.2 g plant-1. S. uniflora becomes a viable option to be used as an organic fertilizer in lettuce production.