PRODUCTION AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF VEGETABLES HARDWOOD IN HYDROPONICS

The hydroponic cultivation of vegetables has increased markedly in recent years, however, little is known about its chemical composition, which is of extreme importance in view of changing food habits of a considerable fraction of the population seeking food quality. For this reason, cultivation of watercress, chicory, rocket and lettuce American (Lucy Brown) and smooth (cv. Regina) were grown in hydroponics, NFT system, aiming to evaluate the yield, nitrate content and chemical composition. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianopolis city in the Santa Catarina State (Brazil), from may to july 2004 under a completely randomized design with four replications. The spacing used was 25 x 25 cm for the crops of watercress, chicory and lettuce (cv. Lucy Brown and cv. Regina) and 5 x 5 cm to the rocket. The traits were: number of leaves, nitrate content and chemical composition of vegetables. The lettuce cv. Regina and chicory had higher number of leaves per plant. The watercress had lower water content and higher dry mass of shoots. The largest increase in fresh weight was obtained in chicory, lettuce, cv. Regina. Higher levels of lipids, protein, ash, carbohydrates, calories, fiber and nitrate were obtained from the watercress. The rocket had lower values for the variables fresh and dries the whole plant, shoot and root and leaf number per plant. All cultures showed good visual appearance, low calorie and nitrate levels suitable for human consumption.

NUTRITIONAL BALANCE, ESSENTIAL OIL AND WOOD PRODUCTION FROM Corymbia citriodora Hill & Johnson WITH SEWAGE SLUDGE AND MINERAL FERTILIZER APPLICATIONS

The Corymbia citriodora is one of the most important forest species in Brazil and the reason is the diversity of its use, because it produces good quality wood and the leaves may be used for essential oil production. Although, there are not many studies about species and the handling effect in the nutritional balance. This study aimed to evaluate the biomass production and nutrient balance in the conventional production of essential oil and wood of Corymbia citriodora with sewage sludge application. The experiment design established was the randomized blocks, with four replicates and two treatments: 1 - fertilization with 10 tons ha(-1) (dry mass) of sewage sludge, supplemented with K and B, and 2 - mineral fertilization. It was evaluated the aerial biomass production, the nutrient export of the leaves, the essential oil and wood production at four years old. The trees that received application of sewage sludge produced 20 % more leaves biomass than the trees with mineral fertilization, resulting in larger oil production. Besides, the trees with sewage sludge application produced 14.2 tons ha(-1) yr(-1) of woody biomass that was 27 % higher than the treatment with mineral fertilization. For both treatments the N balance was negative, but treatment with sewage sludge application (-45 kg ha(-1)) was four times lower than the observed on mineral fertilization treatment (-185 kg ha(-1)). It may be concluded in this paper that the application of sewage sludge benefits the production of leaves biomass, essential oil and wood, besides result better nutritional balance of the Corymbia citriodora production system.