Advances in liquid- and solid-medium soilless culture systems

Abstract

There are two types of soilless cultivation. Liquid systems are the growing of plants in the nutrient solution or under the mist of nutrient solution without a solid substrate. Solid-medium systems use inorganic, or organic materials for the plant roots. The chapter reviews a number of liquid systems: deep water culture (DWC), nutrient film technique (NFT), floating system, deep flow technique (DFT), aeroponics and dry hydroponics. Solid systems described include: gravel culture, sand culture, bag culture, container culture and trough culture. The chapter also assesses aquaponics, bioponics and vertical farming systems. The chapter discusses open and closed nutrition systems before looking at ways of optimising water and nutrient supply: growing medium and solution volume per plant, root zone temperature, oxygen enrichment and plant density. The chapter concludes with a case study on rocket production in liquid and solid medium systems.