INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Lettuce is a cool season crop, it does not respond well with high temperature (Old Farmers
Almanac, 2019), it becomes bitter when planted in places with high temperature like
Tuguegarao City, Cagayan, Philippines. Likewise, almost all other problems that maybe
encountered in growing lettuce like brown edges on leaf, bolting, and failure to germinate is due
to hot weather.
Lettuce taste best if they are grown as fast as possible, which becomes possible with NFT
hydroponics. NFT hydroponics is a system where a continuous flow of Nutrient Solution runs
over the plants root. It is on a slight tilt so the nutrient solution will flow with the force of gravity
(Hydroponic Systems 101, 2019). NFT is one of the best systems for lettuce production
because of the root system lettuce have. Lettuce have smaller roots that it doesn’t have
potential for clogging up the growing channel (Chaney, 2018). In this case, the solution tends to
flow freely and give the best benefits of an NFT system which is oxygenation of plant roots that
creates fast growth.
The cooling system will cool down the water in the reservoir that will flow in the pipes and run
through the roots of the lettuce, or root zone cooling. The cooling system will be made out of
Peltier Module or Thermoelectric Cooler. Peltier Module or Thermoelectric Cooler is a type of
refrigerator that has no moving parts and is capable of transferring heat to either side of itself, it
converts electricity into temperature difference (What is a Peltier Cooler?, 2019).