Utilização de pelos de animais domésticos como biofertilizante na cultura da alface.

Abstract

Animal hair, together with feathers, wool and hooves, are considered keratin residues that have been increasing in volume due to the increase in livestock production as well as domestic animal market. The objective of this research was to evaluate the use of hair as a biofertilizer in the cultivation of iceberg lettuce. The cultivar Grades Lagos American lettuce was used and the experiment was implemented in a completely randomized design, in a 3 x 3 factorial scheme (three residue decomposition times x three substrate compositions), with five replications per treatments. The substrates used were constituted by 80% soil + 20% hair, 90% soil + 10% hair and the control with 100% soil, prepared and composted for 365, 335 and 305 days. After the seedlings were transplanted, the number of leaves, plant diameter and height were evaluated. The control showed better performance with statistical difference for number of leaves, height, fresh mass and dry mass of aerial part. Only regarding the diameter there was no difference between the control, T4, T5 and T6. It is concluded that the doses of kerationous residues used in this experiment were high, interfering negatively in the development of iceberg lettuce. However, it was found that lower concentration of hair and shorter decomposition time were more favorable to plant development.