Influence of Different Colored Plastic Mulch on the Growth of Lettuce (Lactuca sativa)

Mulches bring several benefits to lettuce cultivation.A study on the lettuce ‘Red Rapids’ has been conducted to determine the influence of the different colored plastic mulch on its growth. The experiment consisted of five color treatments as follows; treatment 1- metallic silver (control), treatment 2- red, treatment 3- orange, treatment 4- yellow and treatment 5-green. Results showed that the colored mulch treatments had significant influenced on the different parameters including: root length at harvest, average leaf length, leaf diameter, plant height, plant weight, number of leaves at harvest and percentage survival. Lettuce grown in red mulch had significantly outperformed the other colored treatments.