World Journal of Science and Technology 2012, 2(7):103-108 ISSN: 2231 2587 Available Online: www.worldjournalofscience.

com

Soil-less culture in modern agriculture

Amrita Sengupta and Hirak Banerjee* Department of Agronomy, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur - 741252, Nadia, West Bengal, India Abstract With the advent of civilization, open field/soil-based agriculture is facing some major challenges; most importantly decrease in per capita land availability. In 1960 with 3 billion population over the World, per capita land was 0.5 ha but presently, with 6 billion people it is only 0.25 ha and by 2050, it will reach at 0.16 ha. Due to rapid urbanization and industrialization as well as melting of icebergs (as an obvious impact of global warming), arable land under cultivation is further going to decrease. Again, soil fertility status has attained a saturation level, and productivity is not increasing further with increased level of fertilizer application. Besides, poor soil fertility in some of the cultivable areas, less chance of natural soil fertility build-up by microbes due to continuous cultivation, frequent drought conditions and unpredictability of climate and weather patterns, rise in temperature, river pollution, poor water management and wastage of huge amount of water, decline in ground water level, etc. are threatening food production under conventional soil-based agriculture. Under such circumstances, in near future it will become impossible to feed the entire population using open field system of agricultural production only. Naturally, soil-less culture is becoming more relevant in the present scenario, to cope-up with these challenges. In soil-less culture, plants are raised without soil. Improved space and water conserving methods of food production under soil-less culture have shown some promising results all over the World. Key Words: Aeroponics, hydroponics, nutriculture, open field agriculture, soil-less culture INTRODUCTION Soil is usually the most available growing medium for plants. It provides anchorage, nutrients, air, water, etc. for successful plant growth. However, soils do pose serious limitations for plant growth too, at times. Presence of disease causing organisms and nematodes, unsuitable soil reaction, unfavorable soil compaction, poor drainage, degradation due to erosion etc. are some of them (Biebel,1960). In addition, conventional crop growing in soil (Open Field Agriculture) is somewhat difficult as it involves large space, lot of labour and large volume of water. Moreover, some places like metropolitan areas, soil is not available for crop growing at all, or in some areas, we find scarcity of fertile cultivable arable lands due to their unfavorable geographical or topographical conditions. Of late, another serious problem experienced since is the difficulty to hire labour for conventional open field agriculture. Under such circumstances, soil-less culture can be introduced successfully. Soil-less culture mainly refers to the techniques of Hydroponics and Aeroponics. The term Hydroponics was derived from the Greek words hydro means water and ponos means labour. It is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, without soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert medium, such as perlite, gravel, or mineral wool. Singh and Singh (2012) also opined that hydroponics is the technique of growing plants in soil-less condition
Received: June 18, 2012; Revised: Aug 30, 2012; Accepted: Sept 05, 2012. *Corresponding Author: Hirak Banerjee Department of Agronomy, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur 741252, Nadia, West Bengal, India Tel: +9133-25828407; Fax: +9133-25828407 Email: [email protected]

with their roots immersed in nutrient solution. This system helps to face the challenges of climate change and also helps in production system management for efficient utilization of natural resources and mitigating malnutrition. Aeroponics is another technique, more or less similar to hydroponics with only difference that under aeroponics plants are grown with fine drops (a mist or aerosol) of nutrient solution (Ellis et al., 1974). Interest in practical application of nutriculture developed in 1925 when the green house industry expressed interest in its use. In 1929, Dr. William F. Gericke of the University of California succeeded in growing tomato vines of 7.5 m height in nutrient solutions. He named this new production system hydroponics. In India, Hydroponics was introduced in year 1946 by an English scientist, W. J. Shalto Duglas and he established a laboratory in Kalimpong area, West Bengal. He has also written a book on Hydroponics, named as Hydroponics- The Bengal System. Later on during 1960s and 70s, commercial hydroponics farms were developed in Abu Dhabi, Arizona, Belgium, California, Denmark, German, Holland, Iran, Italy, Japan, Russian Federation and other countries. During 1980s, many automated and computerized hydroponics farms were established around the world. Home hydroponics kits became popular during 1990s. DIFFERENT CULTURE AVAILABLE TECHNIQUES FOR SOIL-LESS

Large numbers of hydroponic/soil-less culture techniques are available. However, following factors are considered in selecting a technique: 1. Space and other available resources 2. Expected productivity 3. Availability of suitable growing medium

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4. Expected quality of the produce colour, appearance, free from pesticides, etc. We can classify the techniques as follows: Techniques of hydroponics The two main types of hydroponics are solution culture and medium culture. A. Solution culture

It is also known as Liquid Hydroponics method. Plants grown in solution culture have their roots suspended directly in a nutrient solution. It can further be classified intoi) Circulating methods (closed system)/ Continuous flow solution culture a) Nutrient film technique (NFT) b) Deep flow technique (DFT)

Fig 1. Different circulating methods (a) Nutrient film technique, (b) Deep flow technique (Source: Technical Bulletin on Hydroponics, Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India)

Flowing solution culture systems can provide a consistent nutrient environment for roots (Edwards and Asher, 1974; Asher, 1981). They are highly amenable to automatic control (Jenner and Starkey, 1980) but are subject to rapid plant desiccation if the flow of solution stops for any reason. Thus frequent attention is required. ii) Non-circulating method (open systems)/ Static solution culture

a) Root dipping technique b) Floating technique c) Capillary action technique

Fig 2. Different non-circulating methods (a) Root dipping technique, (b) Floating technique, (c) Capillary action technique (Source: Technical Bulletin on Hydroponics, Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India)

Suitable vessels for static systems include polythene beakers (Rietveld, 1982), pots, glass jar and containers lined with black polythene film (Rousos and Harrison, 1986). B. Media culture The media culture method has a solid medium for the roots and is named for the type of inert medium, e.g. sand culture, gravel culture or rock wool culture. There are two main variations for each

medium, sub-irrigation and top-irrigation. However, it is classified as follows: 1. Hanging bag technique 2. Grow bag technique 3. Trench or trough technique 4. Pot technique

Fig 3. Different media culture method (a) Hanging bag technique, (b) Grow bag technique, (c) Trench or trough technique, (d) Pot technique (Source: Technical Bulletin on Hydroponics, Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India)

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Techniques of aeroponics Aeroponics is a method of growing plants where they are anchored in holes in Styrofoam panels and their roots are suspended in air beneath the panel. The aeroponics culture is usually practiced in protected structures and is suitable for low leafy vegetables like lettuce, spinach, etc. There are two techniques under this group: 1. Root mist technique
Type of crops Cereals Fruits Vegetables

2. Fog feed technique LIST OF CROPS THAT CAN BE GROWN IN SOIL-LESS CONDITION Everything starting from flower to fruit crops to medicinal plants can be grown using soil-less culture.

Table 1. List of crops that can be grown on commercial level using soil-less culture
Name of the crops Oryza sativa (Rice), Zea mays (Maize) Fragaria ananassa (Strawberry) Lycopersicon esculentum (Tomato), Capsicum frutescens (Chilli), Solanum melongena (Brinjal), Phaseolus vulgaris (Green bean), Beta vulgaris (Beet), Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (Winged bean), Capsicum annum (Bell pepper), Brassica oleracea var. capitata (Cabbage), Brassica oleracea var. botrytis (Cauliflower), Cucumis sativus (Cucumbers), Cucumis melo (Melons), Raphanus sativus (Radish), Allium cepa (Onion) Lactuca sativa (Lettuce), Ipomoea aquatica (Kang Kong) Petroselinum crispum (Parsley), Mentha spicata (Mint), Ocimum basilicum (Sweet basil), Origanum vulgare (Oregano) Tagetes patula (Marigold), Rosa berberifolia (Roses), Dianthus caryophyllus (Carnations), Chrysanthemum indicum (Chrysanthemum) Aloe vera (Indian Aloe), Solenostemon scutellarioides (Coleus) Sorghum bicolor (Sorghum), Medicago sativa (Alphalfa), Hordeum vulgare (Barley), Cynodon dactylon (Bermuda grass), Axonopus compressus (Carpet grass)

Leafy vegetables Condiments Flower / Ornamental crops Medicinal crops Fodder crops Source: Maharana and Koul (2011)

Fig 4. Potato grown in Aeroponics

Higher Yields: In West Bengal, production status under soil-less culture is quite promising and some instances are described below.
Table 2. Hydroponic averages compared with ordinary soil yields
Hydroponic equivalent per Agricultural average per acre acre Wheat 5,000 lb. 600 lb. Oats 3,000 lb. 850 lb. Rice 12,000 lb. 750-900 lb. Maize 8,000 lb. 1,500 lb. Soybean 1,500 lb. 600 lb. Potato 70 tons 8 tons lb. Beet root 20,000 lb. 9,000 lb. Cabbage 18,000 lb. 13,000 lb. Peas 14,000 lb. 2,000 lb. Tomato 180 tonnes 5-10 tonnes Cauliflower 30,000 lb. 10-15,000 lb. French bean 42,000 lb. of pods for eating Lettuce 21,000 lb. 9,000 lb. Ladys finger 19,000 lb. 5-8,000 lb. Cucumber 28,000 lb. 7,000 lb. Note: No matter how many times a hydroponic plot is multiplied in size, output will remain relatively constant-(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hydroponics_vs_agricultural.jpg) Name of crop

106 Table 3. Vegetable production under soil-less culture in India

Vegetables Production (g/m2/day) Carrot 56.5 Cucumber 226 Garlic 57 Ginger 57 Leek 57 Green Bean 113 Lettuce 226 Onion 56.5 Peapod 113 Potato 56.5 Salad greens 226 Tomato 113 Greens 113 Source: Maharana and Koul (2011)

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Application of pesticides is generally avoided under hydroponics system. With reduced pest problems and constant feeding of nutrients to the roots, productivity in hydroponics is high, despite limited plant growth by the low levels of carbon-di-oxide in the atmosphere, or limited light. To increase yield further, some sealed greenhouses inject carbon-di-oxide into their environment to help growth (CO2 enrichment), or add lights to lengthen the day, control vegetative growth etc. SUPPLY OF NUTRIENTS TO THE PLANTS In hydroponics, because of limited nutrient-buffering capacity of the system and the ability to make rapid changes, careful monitoring of the system in necessary. Two aspects of nutrition need to be considered: the supply of nutrients from the nutrient delivery system and the plant nutrient response. For most common crop plants critical levels for most nutrients have been determined (Chapman, 1966; Jones et al.,1991). The frequency and volume of the nutrient solution applied depends on the type of substrate used (volume and physicalchemical characteristics), the crop (species and stage of

development), the size of the container, the crop and irrigation systems used and the prevailing climatic conditions. Plants should be fed daily. The best time to administer the nutrient solution is between 6.00 and 8.00 am, though water requirements will vary considerably throughout the day, and from one day to another. The solution should be applied to the roots, trying to avoid wetting the leaves to prevent damage and the appearance of diseases. Under no circumstances should plants be allowed to suffer from water stress, as this will affect their final yield. It is generally recommended that you apply only water to the plants once a week, in order to flush away any excess salts that have remained. Use double the amount of water normally applied, but without adding nutrients. Between 20 and 50% of the solution should be drained-off to prevent the accumulation of toxic ions and an excessive increase of electrical conductivity in the root area. The excess nutrient solution that is drained away from containers during daily watering can be reused in the next watering. At the end of the week, this liquid can be discarded (Berry and Knight, 2008). Flow chart of supply of nutrients to the plants under soil-less culture has been depicted below:

Figure 5. Flow chart of supply of nutrients to the plants (http://cpamoneyshop.com/make-money-online-2/hydroponics)

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Sources of nutrient elements

Table 4. Sources of nutrient elements with their characteristics
Source Element Characteristics Potassium nitrate KNO3 N, K Very soluble salt Potassium phosphate monobasic KH2PO4 P, K Corrects phosphorus deficiency Magnesium sulfate MgSO4 S, Mg Cheap, highly soluble, pure salt Iron chelate Fe Cit Best sources of iron Boric acid H3BO3 B Best source of boron Calcium nitrate Ca(NO3)2 N, Ca Very soluble salt Source: http://www.iica.int/Esp/organizacion/DORI/Caribe/Publicaciones%20Region%20Caribe/webHome%20Hydroponics.pdf

DESIRABLE pH RANGE OF NUTRIENT SOLUTIONS In hydroponic systems, pH is constantly changing as the plant grows. Changes in pH of less than 0.1 unit are not significant. Thus pH control is a necessity in hydroponic solutions. The pH range of 5.5 to 6.5 is optimal for the availability of nutrients from most nutrient solutions for most species, but species differ significantly and several can grow well outside of this range (Islam et al., 1980). CONTROL OF CONTAMINANTS Maintenance of sterile root-zone environment is essential to have good plant vigour under soil-less culture. It is extremely difficult to achieve and critical to minimize population of plant pathogens in the root zone. Commonly encountered disease in hydroponic solution is wilt, caused by Fusarium and Verticillum. Species of Pythium and Phytophthora destroys all but the main roots. No effective fungicides are there which can be safely used in hydroponics. Only Metalaxyl has been found highly effective for control of Pythium on vegetable crops, but it is not registered for the use. Heat treatment of nutrient solution has also been found effective in keeping the root-zone free of pathogens. Root death of tomatoes by Pythium was overcome by heating nutrient solutions at 20-22oC (Davies, 1980). Hayden (2004) opined that in aeroponic system with heated nutrient solution, the roots of ginger plants matured faster and produced slightly higher fresh rhizome yields than plants in the same medium without bottom heat. ADVANTAGES OF SOIL-LESS CULTURE There are many advantages of growing plants under soil-less culture over soil-based culture. These gardens produce the healthiest crops with high yields and are consistently reliable; gardening is clean and extremely easy, requiring very little effort. Here nutrients are fed directly to the roots, as a result plants grow faster with smaller roots, plants may be grown closer, and only 1/5 th of overall space and 1/20th of total water is needed to grow plants under soil-less culture in comparison to soil-based culture. There is no chance of soil-borne insect pest, disease attack or weed infestation too. Overall soil-less culture provides efficient nutrient regulation, higher density planting, and leading to increased yield per acre along with better quality of the produce. It is also effective for the regions of the World having scarcity of arable or fertile land for agriculture. LIMITATIONS OF SOIL-LESS CULTURE Despite of many advantages, soilless culture has some limitations. Application on commercial scale requires technical

knowledge and high initial investment, though returns are high. Considering the high cost, the soil-less culture is limited to high value crops. Great care is required with respect to plant health control. Finally energy inputs are necessary to run the system. FUTURE SCOPE OF THIS TECHNOLOGY Hydroponics is the fastest growing sector of agriculture, and it could very well dominate food production in the future. As population increases and arable land declines due to poor land management, people will turn to new technologies like hydroponics and aeroponics to create additional channels of crop production. To get a glimpse of the future of hydroponics, we need only to examine some of the early adopters of this science. In Tokyo, land is extremely valuable due to the surging population. To feed the citizens while preserving valuable land mass, the country has turned to hydroponic rice production. The rice is harvested in underground vaults without the use of soil. Because the environment is perfectly controlled, four cycles of harvest can be performed annually, instead of the traditional single harvest. Hydroponics also has been used successfully in Israel which has a dry and arid climate. A company called Organitech has been growing crops in 40-foot (12.19-meter) long shipping containers, using hydroponic systems. They grow large quantities of berries, citrus fruits and bananas, all of which couldn't normally be grown in Israel's climate. The hydroponics techniques produce a yield 1,000 times greater than the same sized area of land could produce annually. Best of all, the process is completely automated, controlled by robots using an assembly line-type system, such as those used in manufacturing plants. The shipping containers are then transported throughout the country (Butler and Oebker, 2006). There has already been a great deal of buzz throughout the scientific community for the potential to use hydroponics in third world countries, where water supplies are limited. Though the upfront capital costs of setting up hydroponics systems is currently a barrier but in the long-run, as with all technology, costs will decline, making this option much more feasible. Hydroponics has the ability to feed millions in areas of Africa and Asia, where both water and crops are scarce. Hydroponics also will be important to the future of the space program. NASA has extensive hydroponics research plans in place, which will benefit current space exploration, as well as future, longterm colonization of Mars or the Moon. As we haven't yet found soil that can support life in space, and the logistics of transporting soil via the space shuttles seems impractical, hydroponics could be key to the future of space exploration. The benefits of hydroponics in space are two-fold: It offers the potential for a larger variety of food, and it provides a biological aspect, called a bio-regenerative life support

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system. This simply means that as the plants grow, they will absorb carbon-di-oxide and stale air and provide renewed oxygen through the plant's natural growing process. This is important for long-range habitation of both the space stations and other planets. CONCLUSION The industry is expected to grow exponentially also in future, as conditions of soil growing is becoming difficult. Specially, in a country like India , where urban concrete conglomerate is growing each day , there is no option but adopting soil-less culture to help improve the yield and quality of the produce so that we can ensure food security of our country. However, Government intervention and Research Institute interest can propel the use of this technology. REFERENCES [1] Asher, C.J. 1981. Limiting external concentrations of trace elements for plant growth: Use of flowing solution culture techniques. Journal of Plant Nutri., 3: 163-180. [2] Beibel, J.P. 1960. Hydroponics -The Science of Growing Crops Without Soil. Florida Department of Agric. Bull. p. 180. [3] Berry W.L. and Knight S. 2008. Plant Culture in Hydroponics. http://www.controlledenvironments.org/Growth_Chamber_Han dbook/Ch08.pdf. p. 119-132 [4] Butler, J.D. and Oebker, N.F. 2006. Hydroponics as a Hobby Growing Plants Without Soil. Circular 844. Information Office, College of Agriculture, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801. [5] Chapman, H.D. 1966. Diagnostic Criteria for Plants and Soils. University of California, Division of Agricultural Sciences, Riverside, CA. [6] Davies, J.M.L. 1980. Disease in NFT. Acta Hort., 98: 299-304. [7] Edwards, D.G., and Asher, C.J. 1974. The significance of solution flow rate in flowing culture experiments. Plant Soil, 41: 161-175.

[8] Ellis, N.K., Jensen, M., Larsen, J. and Oebker, N. 1974. Nutriculture SystemsGrowing Plants Without Soil. Station Bulletin No. 44. Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana. [9] Hayden, L.A. 2004. Aeroponic cultivation of ginger (Zingiber officinale) rhizomes. In. Proc. VII IS on Prot. Cult. Mild Winter Climates. Eds. D.J. Cantliffe, P.J. Stofella & N. Shaw. Acta Hort., p. 659. [10] http://www.iica.int/Esp/organizacion/DORI/Caribe/Publicaciones %20Region%20Caribe/webHome%20Hydroponics.pdf [11] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hydroponics_vs_agricultural.jpg [12] http://cpamoneyshop.com/make-money-online-2/hydroponics [13] Islam, A., Edwards, D. and Asher, C. 1980. pH optima for crop growth. Plant Soil, 54: 339-357. [14] Jenner, G., and Starkey. N. 1980. Nutrient film technique: Practicalities of cadmium. Plant Soil, 49: 333-342. [15] Jones, J.B., Wolf, N. and Milla, H. A. 1991. Plant Analysis Handbook. Micro-Macro Publishing, Inc. Athens, GA. [16] Maharana, L. and Koul, D.N. 2011. The emergence of Hydroponics. Yojana (June). 55 : 39-40. [17] Rietveld, W.J. 1982. A versatile apparatus for static solution systems. Hort. Sci., 17: 583-585. [18] Rousos, P.A., and Harrison, H.C. 1986. A labor-saving nutrientscreening procedure using large-batch solution culture. Hort. Sci., 21: 319-320. [19] Singh, S. and Singh, B. S. 2012. Hydroponics A technique for cultivation of vegetables and medicinal plants. In. Proceedings of 4th Global conference on Horticulture for Food, Nutrition and Livelihood Options, 28-31 May 2012, Bhubaneshwar, Odisha, India. p.220.