Comparison of Nutritional Content of Water Spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) Cultivated Hydroponically and Non-Hydroponically

Abstract

Water spinach is well known by our society as a green vegetable that has a high vitamin mineral content at a low price and is easy to obtain and its cultivation is also relatively easy. This character supports the development as a potential horticultural crop commodity to be developed. The main source of vitamins is leafy green vegetables. Leaf green vegetables can be cultivated non-hydroponically and hydroponically. In vegetables there is beta-carotene which is the initial form of vitamin A so it is called pro vitamin A or provit A. Provit A is found in leafy green vegetables such as water spinach. The objectives of this study were: To compare the nutritional content of water spinach cultivated hydroponically and non-hydroponically. This research was conducted at the Wire House Biology Laboratory, Padang State University in May - July 2020. This research is a descriptive study. The analysis that will be carried out in this study are: Nutritional content of kale. The research steps that will be carried out are: preparation of hydroponic kale samples obtained from the West Sumatra hydroponic community in Alai and non-hydroponic kale obtained from the Padang Raya market, analysis of nutrient content using spectrophotometric methods and data analysis. From the research that has been done, it is found that the nutritional content of water spinach cultivated non-hydroponically is higher than that of water spinach cultivated hydroponically.