Hydroponics is a good alternative for producing healthy crops and vegetables, free from soil-borne pathogens as it is not growing on soil. Does every crop perform well on hydroponic systems? To know this answer, a research team carried out this experiment to test the performance of jute mallow in a newly developed greenhouse and root dipping hydroponic systems developed at the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering experimental farm at Oba-nla, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria.
To compare its growth, the team planted them on raised soil beds even though plants perform better on raised soil beds above on the ground soil. To compare the growth parameter of all plants the team collected data of plant height, stem girth, and leaf number. The team also measured the yield for each crop at the end of the experiment. The crops performed well on root dipping hydroponic systems than conventional planting systems (soil). The results showed that the root dipping system for jute mallow gave the highest plant height (19.79 cm), the number of leaves (30.93), and stem girth (0.4450 cm) while the soil conventional farming system for this vegetable gave the lowest plant height (17.99 cm,), the number of leaves (27.96) and stem girth (0.4159 cm) respectively. Higher yields were also recorded from the root dipping system for vegetables while conventional farming had the least yield.
The root dipping system for this vegetable recorded significantly higher fruit weight (133.52 kg) fresh weight of stem (195.29 kg) and fresh weight of root (79.34 kg) respectively while conventional farming had the least fruit weight (121.81 kg), fresh weight of stem (177.12 kg) and fresh weight of root (72.32 kg) respectively. The different treatment applied affects the physiological appearance and the yields of the crops significantly (p<0.05) couple with its physicochemical features. The fruits and vegetables' mineral and proximate composition were within the recommended range by World Health Organization (WHO) but were significantly (P<0.05) affected by the effects of the treatment as a result of its physicochemical features. From the result of this investigation, it, therefore, suggested that soilless agriculture should be practiced and invested in by farmers and entrepreneurs most especially in environments where there is no availability of arable land for planting for fresh availability of vegetables and fruits all year round.
Read the complete research at www.researchgate.net.
Olubanjo, Obafemi & Adaramola, Oluwafemi & Alade, Adebolu. (2021). Development of Greenhouse with Root Dipping Technique Hydroponics Structure to Test the Performance of Jute Mallow ( EJFOOD). 10.24018/ejfood.2021.3.4.217.