DRIS Evaluation of the Nutritional Status of Crisphead Lettuce

Abstract

Diagnosis and Recommendation Integrated System (DRIS) norms were derived for crisphead lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) from field fertility experiments conducted over the past 20 years on mineral and organic soils in Florida. Preliminary testing indicates that DRIS diagnoses generally agree with diagnoses using the sufficiency range approach, with the advantage of predicting the degree of nutrient limitation. DRIS also appeared to correctly predict a response to K where sufficiency ranges currently used did not. Overall, DRIS appears to be a useful adjunct to the sufficiency range approach currently used to diagnose nutritional deficiencies in crisphead lettuce.