Influence of three hydroponic nutrient solutions on the yield and quality of leafy vegetables grown in hydroponics culture

Abstract

A study was conducted to evaluate three hydroponic nutrient solutions to grow six types of leafy vegetables in a deep water culture hydroponics system at the glasshouse of Olericulture Division of Horticulture Research Centre (HRC), Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) during the period from 26 November 2020 to 31 January 2021.For this purpose plants of eleven varieties of six types of leafy vegetables (three varieties of lettuce viz. BARI Lettuce-1, Green Wave and New Red Fire; two varieties of spinach viz. BARI Palongshak-1 and BARI Palongshak-2; one variety of Pak Choi named BARI Batishak-1; three varieties of mizuna, namely Late White Stem, Mustard Green and Salad Kyomizuna; one variety (unknown) of Rocket Salad and one variety (unknown) of Chard) were grown in 300-litre culture boxes through deep water culture hydroponics using Modified Cooper’s Solution-1 (1.5 dS/m) (MCS-1) (full strength), Modified Cooper’s Solution-2 (1.5 dS/m) (MCS-2) (full strength) and Enshi-Shoho nutrient solution (ENS) (1/2 strength) on a completely randomized design (CRD). Results showed that growth of the selected leafy vegetables were varied significantly in three types of hydroponic nutrient solution. In general, it was evident that the overall growth performances of tested vegetables were found greater in ­MCS-1 than in MCS-2 and ENS. This result was followed by MCS-2 and lower growth of the tested vegetables was obtained from ENS Quality characteristics such as total soluble solids, shoot sap pH and tritratable acidity were found higher in MCS-1 followed by MCS-2. Results also revealed that lower amount of chlorophyll pigments and carotenoid content was recorded in plants grown in MCS-2 than other two nutrient solutions. Therefore, Modified Coopers solution-1 can be used for growing leafy vegetables following deep water culture hydroponics in the winter season of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 48(2): 161-181, June 2023