Effect of water flow rate on quantity and quality of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) in nutrient fi lm technique (NFT) under hydroponics conditions
Keywords:
lettuce, hydroponics, water flow rate, nutrient film techniqueAbstract
In the study of hydroponics, questions have risen concerning about ideal water flow that allow the plant to absorbing highest amount of nutrient from the nutrient solution during irrigating process. Thus, this experiment was aimed to determine the ideal water flow rate in nutrient film technique system in order to optimize the nutrients uptake with growth of lettuce. Different flow rates 10, 20 and 30 L/hour were assigned as T1, T2 and T3, respectively, with lettuce plants and the space between plants 15 cm. Generally, the growth decreased significantly with increasing in water flow rate. The analysis of lettuce hydroponics variable reveals that flow rate at 20 L/hour provides higher mean rank rather than other flow rate 10 L/hour and 30 L/hour. The findings of this research stated that if flow rate is increased to 30 L/hour plant height, number of leaves, number of outer and inner leaves, heat mass and stem mass decreases. On the whole from the analysis it is concluded that for fl ow rate 20 L/hour enhances the growth rate of lettuce in hydroponics hence it is stated that flow rate of 20 L/hour is good fl ow rate rather than 10 L/hour and 30 L/hour. Water flow in nutrient film technique is essential to be ideal through allow the plants root to absorb all elements needed form nutrient solutions in hydroponics system. And thus, water movement in the system and the rate of turnover should be designed to ensure good contact time for roots and water flow in the system.
References
Ako, H. & Baker, A. (2009). Small-scale lettuce production with hydroponics or aquaponics. Sustainable Agriculture, SA-2.
Altunlu, H., Ayranci, Y., & Gercek, S. (2017). Comparison of Water Pillow and drip irrigation systems for tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) production under greenhouse conditions in the Mediterranean Region of Turkey. Bulgarian Journal of Agricultural Science, 23(1), 76-82.
Al-Ajmi, A., Al-Karaki, G., & Othman, Y. (2008). Effect of different substrates on fruit yield and quality of cherry tomato grown in a closed soilless system. In International Symposium on Strategies Towards Sustainability of Protected Cultivation in Mild Winter Climate, 807 (pp. 491-494).
Al-Tawaha, A., Al-Karaki, G., & Massadeh, A. (2016). Effects of planting density and cutting height on herbage and water use
effi ciency of thyme (Origanum syriacum L.) grown under protected soilless and open fi eld conditions. Research on Crops, 17(1), 118-128.
Edaroyati, M. P., Aishah, H. S., & Al-Tawaha, A. M. (2017). Requirements for inserting intercropping in aquaponics system for sustainability in agricultural production system. Agronomy Research, 15(5), 2048-2067.
Gent, M. P. (2012). Composition of hydroponic lettuce: effect of time of day, plant size, and season. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 92(3), 542-550.
Jones, J. B. (2005). Hydroponics: a practical guide for the soilless grower. CRC Press
Kaiser, C., & Ernst, M. (2012). Hydroponic Lettuce. University Of Kentucky College Of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Cooperative extension service.
Khater, E. S. G., & Ali, S. A. (2015). Effect of fl ow rate and length of gully on lettuce plants in aquaponic and hydroponic systems.
Journal of Aquaculture Research & Development, 6(3), 1.
Koohakan, P., Jeanaksorn, T., & Nuntagij, I. (2008). Major diseases of lettuce grown by commercial nutrient fi lm technique in Thailand. Current Applied Science and Technology, 8(2), 56-56.
Makhadmeh, I. M., Al-Tawaha, A., Edaroyati, P., Al-Karaki, G., Al-Tawaha, A. R. & Hassan, S. A. (2017). Effects of different growth media and planting densities on growth of lettuce grown in a closed soilless system. Research on Crops, 18(2), 294-298.
Malorgio, F., Incrocci, L., Di Mauro, B., & Pardossi, A. (2005). Tecnica della coltivazione fuori suolo. Ministero delle Politiche Agricole e Forestali, Università di Pisa, Regione Siciliana Assessorato Agricoltura e Foreste (It).
M itova, I., Nenova, L., Stancheva, I., Geneva, M., Hristozkova, M., & Mincheva, J. (2017). Lettuce response to nitrogen fertilizers and root mycorrhization. Bulgarian Journal of Agricultural Science, 23(2), 260-264.
Oh, M. M., Trick, H. N., & Rajashekar, C. B. (2009). Secondary metabolism and antioxidants are involved in environmental adaptation and stress tolerance in lettuce. Journal of plant physiology, 166(2), 180-191.
Othman, Y., Al-Karaki, G., & Al-Ajmi, A. (2008). Response of soilless grown sweet pepper cultivars to salinity. In International Symposium on Strategies Towards Sustainability of Protected Cultivation in Mild Winter Climate, 807 (pp. 227-232).
Resh, H. M. (2013). Hydroponic food production: a defi nitive guidebook for the advanced home gardener and the commercial hydroponic grower. CRC Press
US FDA (2016). National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 28
Wheeler, R. M., Hinkle, C. R., Mackowiak, C. L., Sager, J. C., & Knott, W. M. (1990). Potato growth and yield using nutrient fi lm technique (NFT). American Potato Journal, 67(3), 177187.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2018 Bulgarian Journal of Agricultural Science
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
