Abstract
The effect of moisture conditions on microbial quality (as total aerobic bacteria) and yield of head lettuce was investigated. Head lettuce cv. Honcho II grown at the Yuma Agricultural Center was evaluated for microbial population at harvest and postharvest quality either following different irrigation termination schedules or after a rainfall event. The last irrigation was scheduled 24, 16 and 6 days prior to harvest resulting in soil’s water content of 15.9%, 17.0% and 17.2%, respectively, at harvest. Lettuce receiving the last irrigation 6 days before harvest had 10% more weight, higher total aerobic bacteria and shorter shelf life than plants irrigated 24 days before harvest. The plants with the last irrigation scheduled 16 days before harvest showed similar weight at harvest, lower total aerobic count and longer shelf life than plants with irrigation termination scheduled 6 days prior to harvest. The effect of field’s moisture prior to harvest on quality was further evaluated with lettuce harvested 1 and 7 days after a rainfall event. A day after rain the microbial population in both outer leaves and head leaves increased. The microbial population in head leaves continued increasing during the week after rain. The results from this study suggest that managing moisture conditions at harvest is important to enhance quality of lettuce. Although the potential decrease in weight produced with an early irrigation termination is a great concern of growers, it was shown in this study that excessively late pre-harvest irrigation of lettuce is not necessary to obtain maximum weight at harvest.
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Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
Last irrigation 6 days before harvest gave 10% more lettuce weight than irrigation 24 days before harvest.
- Taxon
- lettuce
Lactuca sativat0 - Material
- cv. Honcho IIe0
- Treatment
- last irrigation 6 days before harveste1
- Outcome
- weighte1
- Direction
- moree1
- Value
- 10%e1
- Comparator
- irrigated 24 days before harveste1
- Setting
- Yuma Agricultural Centere0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Microbial Quality of Head Lettuce”
e0“Head lettuce cv. Honcho II grown at the Yuma Agricultural Center was evaluated for microbial population at harvest”
e1“Lettuce receiving the last irrigation 6 days before harvest had 10% more weight, higher total aerobic bacteria and shorter shelf life than plants irrigated 24 days before harvest”
Claim · model-written summary
Last irrigation 6 days before harvest gave higher total aerobic bacteria than irrigation 24 days before harvest.
- Taxon
- lettuceLactuca sativat0
- Material
- cv. Honcho IIe0
- Treatment
- last irrigation 6 days before harveste1
- Outcome
- total aerobic bacteriae1
- Direction
- highere1
- Comparator
- irrigated 24 days before harveste1
- Setting
- Yuma Agricultural Centere0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Microbial Quality of Head Lettuce”
e0“Head lettuce cv. Honcho II grown at the Yuma Agricultural Center was evaluated for microbial population at harvest”
e1“Lettuce receiving the last irrigation 6 days before harvest had 10% more weight, higher total aerobic bacteria and shorter shelf life than plants irrigated 24 days before harvest”
Claim · model-written summary
Last irrigation 6 days before harvest gave shorter shelf life than irrigation 24 days before harvest.
- Taxon
- lettuceLactuca sativat0
- Material
- cv. Honcho IIe0
- Treatment
- last irrigation 6 days before harveste1
- Outcome
- shelf lifee1
- Direction
- shortere1
- Comparator
- irrigated 24 days before harveste1
- Setting
- Yuma Agricultural Centere0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Microbial Quality of Head Lettuce”
e0“Head lettuce cv. Honcho II grown at the Yuma Agricultural Center was evaluated for microbial population at harvest”
e1“Lettuce receiving the last irrigation 6 days before harvest had 10% more weight, higher total aerobic bacteria and shorter shelf life than plants irrigated 24 days before harvest”
Claim · model-written summary
Last irrigation 16 days before harvest gave similar lettuce weight at harvest.
- Taxon
- lettuceLactuca sativat0
- Treatment
- last irrigation scheduled 16 days before harveste2
- Outcome
- weight at harveste2
- Direction
- similare2
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Microbial Quality of Head Lettuce”
e2“The plants with the last irrigation scheduled 16 days before harvest showed similar weight at harvest, lower total aerobic count and longer shelf life than plants with irrigation termination scheduled 6 days prior to harvest”
Claim · model-written summary
Last irrigation 16 days before harvest gave lower total aerobic count than irrigation 6 days before harvest.
- Taxon
- lettuceLactuca sativat0
- Treatment
- last irrigation scheduled 16 days before harveste2
- Outcome
- total aerobic counte2
- Direction
- lowere2
- Comparator
- irrigation termination scheduled 6 days prior to harveste2
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Microbial Quality of Head Lettuce”
e2“The plants with the last irrigation scheduled 16 days before harvest showed similar weight at harvest, lower total aerobic count and longer shelf life than plants with irrigation termination scheduled 6 days prior to harvest”
Claim · model-written summary
Last irrigation 16 days before harvest gave longer shelf life than irrigation 6 days before harvest.
- Taxon
- lettuceLactuca sativat0
- Treatment
- last irrigation scheduled 16 days before harveste2
- Outcome
- shelf lifee2
- Direction
- longere2
- Comparator
- irrigation termination scheduled 6 days prior to harveste2
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Microbial Quality of Head Lettuce”
e2“The plants with the last irrigation scheduled 16 days before harvest showed similar weight at harvest, lower total aerobic count and longer shelf life than plants with irrigation termination scheduled 6 days prior to harvest”
Claim · model-written summary
A day after rain, microbial population increased in outer leaves and head leaves of lettuce.
- Taxon
- lettuceLactuca sativat0
- Organ / stage
- outer leaves and head leavese3
- Treatment
- A day after raine3
- Outcome
- microbial populatione3
- Direction
- increasede3
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Microbial Quality of Head Lettuce”
e3“A day after rain the microbial population in both outer leaves and head leaves increased”
Claim · model-written summary
Microbial population in head leaves kept increasing during the week after rain.
- Taxon
- lettuceLactuca sativat0
- Organ / stage
- head leavese4
- Treatment
- week after raine4
- Outcome
- microbial population in head leavese4
- Direction
- increasinge4
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Microbial Quality of Head Lettuce”
e4“The microbial population in head leaves continued increasing during the week after rain”
Claim · model-written summary
Managing moisture conditions at harvest is important to enhance lettuce quality.
- Taxon
- lettuceLactuca sativat0
- Treatment
- managing moisture conditions at harveste5
- Outcome
- quality of lettucee5
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Microbial Quality of Head Lettuce”
e5“managing moisture conditions at harvest is important to enhance quality of lettuce”
Claim · model-written summary
Excessively late pre-harvest irrigation of lettuce is not necessary to obtain maximum weight at harvest.
- Taxon
- lettuceLactuca sativae6
- Treatment
- excessively late pre-harvest irrigatione6
- Outcome
- maximum weighte6
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e6“excessively late pre-harvest irrigation of lettuce is not necessary to obtain maximum weight at harvest”
The same questions in other papers
irrigation · quality: postharvest · Lactuca sativa (garden lettuce)Positive and negative results
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- no effect
- no effect
- negative
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See all 12 papers →irrigation · growth · Lactuca sativa (garden lettuce)Positive and negative results
31 papers in the same direction as this paper · 11 in the opposite direction · 2 reporting no difference from an alternative
- no effect
- no effect
- negative
41 papers more in this group
See all 45 papers →irrigation · yield · Lactuca sativa (garden lettuce)Positive and negative results
24 papers in the same direction as this paper · 32 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
53 papers more in this group
See all 57 papers →rainfall · soil: biology · Lactuca sativa (garden lettuce)Results agree
1 paper in the same direction as this paper
- negative
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.