OPTIMIZATION OF DIFFERENT PARAMETERS FOR CULTIVATION OF SPINACIA OLERACEA IN NFT HYDROPONICS
Boddupalli Krishna Jaswanth, Pichili Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy and Kiranmai Chadipiralla*
ABSTRACT
Hydroponic agriculture is gaining popularity all over the globe due to effective resource management and the production of high-quality food. As a result of urbanisation, natural disasters, climate change, and the indiscriminate use of herbicides and pesticides, soil-based agriculture is now confronted with several obstacles that diminish soil fertility. Spinacia oleracea, is an edible leafy vegetable widely cultivated in Asian countries. It is well known for its taste and medicinal properties. Spinach is rich in iron, calcium and other essential minerals. The present study focused on growing Spinacia oleracea in hydroponics through Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) and evaluating the effect of climatic parameters like temperature and humidity and physical parameters like, total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC) and pH on the plant growth, analysed by measuring plant, shoot length, root length, number of leaves to assess plant’s health. Plant is in good health condition with gradual increase in root and shoot lengths and reached highest on DAT 21 with optimal shoot length, 12.35 ± 1.0 cm and root length, 1.77 ± 0.1 cm. The optimal ranges of nutrient solution physical parameters for Spinacia oleracea growth in NFT were recorded as EC (1490-2660 µS/cm), pH (3.6-5.1), TDS (750- 1120 ppm) and temperature (28.1°C - 30.1°C).
Keywords: Hydroponics, NFT, Spinacia oleracea, plant growth.
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