Results and Discussion

Concentrations of sugars were greater in the afternoon (PM) than in the morning harvested lettuce. However the monosaccharide concentration of the two harvest times was not different.

The concentrations of TNC in afternoon harvested tissue averaged about 20% higher than that found in the morning harvested lettuce. We suspect that the accumulation of sugars may be less in tightly wrapped then in more loosely arranged bunches.

These results do show that afternoon harvested greens will likely have greater concentrations of sugars than morning harvested. These increases are certainly not of the magnitude claimed for spinach (see below). Further, it is not known how the greater sugar concentration might affect shelf life.