Recently, the number of patients with chronic kidney disease has increased rapidly and kidneys with loss of the K-defecating function have been observed. Thus, providing vegetables with low potassium is an urgent unmet need. In this study, two cultivation methods were used to cultivate lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) with low K concentrations. One method, dubbed LKEC, was based on electrical conductance management and the K supply was stopped at the end of cultivation. The other method, dubbed LKQM, was based on nutrient quantitative management, and the nutrients required for low-K lettuce were quantitatively supplied. Meanwhile, control lettuce with a normal K concentration, known as CK, were cultivated with electrical conductance management. Compared with CK, both low K treatments reduced the yield by nearly 20% without any visual deficiency symptoms. There was no significant difference between LKEC and LKQM in terms of plant growth. LKQM-treated lettuce contained lower Na and required less fertilizer than LKEC lettuce. Moreover, these plants adapted to K deficiency stress by absorbing more cations to maintain osmotic pressure. N declined with decreasing K. This suggested that the quantitative management method in low-potassium lettuce production reduced the potassium content in the lettuce plants to the same level as the EC management method, and significantly reduced the sodium content compared to EC management.

近来，患有慢性肾脏疾病的患者数量迅速增加，并且已经观察到具有排钾功能丧失的肾脏。因此，提供低钾的蔬菜是迫切需要解决的问题。在这项研究中，两种栽培方法被用于栽培莴苣（莴苣L.）的K浓度低。一种被称为LKEC的方法是基于电导率管理的，并且在耕种结束时停止了钾的供应。另一种称为LKQM的方法是基于营养物定量管理，并定量供应低K生菜所需的营养物。同时，通过电导率管理来种植具有正常K浓度的对照生菜，称为CK。与CK相比，两种低K处理均使产量降低了近20％，而没有任何视觉缺陷症状。就植物生长而言，LKEC和LKQM之间没有显着差异。与LKEC生菜相比，LKQM处理过的生菜含钠量更低，所需肥料也更少。此外，这些植物通过吸收更多的阳离子来维持渗透压，从而适应缺钾胁迫。