Abstract
Nutrient supply in hydroponics can significantly influence the nutrition, taste, texture, color, and other characteristics of fruit and vegetable crops. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a global health problem that frequently restricts a patient’s consumption of high-potassium foods. CKD patients are advised to limit their consumption of many vegetables that are potassium (K)-rich. At the same time, reducing vegetable intake reduces the intake of healthy compounds such as vitamins, fibers and antioxidants, which are beneficial to CKD patients. In our study, we investigated the reduction of the K concentration in a hydroponic nutrient solution as a possible technique to decrease the K tissue concentration of baby leaf spinach, a dark green that is frequently recommended to be consumed in moderation for patients with CKD. A previously developed hydroponic fertilizer recipe that provides a platform to adjust individual nutrients was used to adjust K to 0, 10, 25, and 100% of the control K concentration. Tissue K levels were reduced by up to 91% with a consequent 61% reduction in dry weight and 76% reduction in fresh weight (yield) with respect to the control treatment. Overall, the results suggest that using a nutrient solution without K can significantly reduce K concentrations in baby spinach, although this will consequently reduce yields.
Highlights
Spinach plants exhibited a 61% reduction in dry weight (DW) in the 0% K treatment as compared to the control (100% K) (Figure 2b)
The spinach plants receiving the 0% K treatment showed a 76% reduction in fresh weight with respect to the control (Figure 2c)
The fresh weight (FW) for 25% K treatment was not significantly smaller than for control plants, whereas the 10% K treatment was significantly smaller than control and 25% K treatments but larger than the 0% K treatment
Summary
Hydroponics is a method for growing plants in a mineral nutrient solution without soil. A common form of hydroponics used for the commercial production of leafy greens and herbs is deep water culture, in which the plants roots are suspended in a nutrientrich and oxygenated solution on a floating raft. Hydroponic systems are more water-efficient, providing the ability to grow crops more densely and allowing greater fertilizer use efficiency compared to conventional soil culture farming methods [2]. These systems can be implemented in areas with poor soil conditions and are suitable in urban areas where space is limited. The nutrient solution can be adjusted and can significantly influence the nutrition, taste, texture, color, and other characteristics of fruit and vegetable crops
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