Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
8th International Agriculture Congress, Ankara, Türkiye, 26 - 28 Ekim 2022, ss.87
Vertical farming is a form of production in
which hydroponic farming is widely used. In hydroponic culture, plants are
grown in a variety of growing medias that the roots can hold firmly and contain
water and oxygen. An ideal growing media needs to have optimal ratio of water
to air, moderate cation-exchange capacity, non-pH-affective material besides
being inexpensive, sustainable, and lightweight. Nowadays, usage of dedicated
growing media shows a rising trend. Many different organic and inorganic
growing media such as rockwool, expanded clay pellets, sponge, foam, wood
chips, rice hulls, etc. are used in vertical farming. These materials have
advantages and disadvantages to each other in terms of cation-exchange
capacity, strength, reusability, porosity, evaporation rate, etc. In this
research, water holding capacity and evaporation rate of rockwool, polyurethane
sponge, cellulose sponge, and Oasis Horticubes® are investigated. Experiments
were done to examine germination percentage, shoot length, shoot dry weight,
root length and root dry weight of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. var.
crispa) 10 days after seeding. It could be concluded that rockwool for
hydroponics lettuce has the minimum evaporation rate, maximum germination, and maximum
growth.