301-46
Evaluating Aeroponics System for Water and Nutrient Use Efficiency of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum).

Poster Number 3003

Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Tampa Convention Center, East Hall, Third Floor

Endale Geta Tafesse, The Wyler Dept of Dryland Agriculture, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede boqer, Israel, Shimon Rachmilevitch, The Wyler Department of Dryland Agriculture, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede boqer, Israel and Naftali Lazarovitch, The Wyler Dept of Dry Land Agriculture, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer, Israel
Conventional agriculture usually suffers from overuse of nutrients and water which in turn results in waste of resources and accumulation of toxic substances. Such practices eventually lead to poor soil condition and ground water contamination.  This work was initiated to investigate the roles of aeroponics on water and nutrient uptake, water use efficiency (WUE) and growth of tomato; and to test the suitability of a newly designed aeroponics apparatus, ‘ECOPOD’ as a plant growing system. Tomato plants were grown in aeroponics, soil and hydroponics growing systems under greenhouse condition each in four replications.  The aeroponics method showed significantly higher performance (P<0.01) in plant height and total fresh weight over soil and hydroponics methods. In  total dry weight, both aeroponics and hydroponics methods were significantly higher than the soil. With regard to stomatal conductance, chlorophyll content and stomatal density, aeroponics and soil methods showed similarities both being higher than hydroponics. Hydroponics and soil systems have consumed 75% and 7% more water per plant per day than the aeroponics system respectively. The aeroponics system had higher WUE (more than 100%) than hydroponics and soil methods. Apparently, aeroponics system through the use of ‘ECOPOD’ apparatus is a promising strategy for better plant productivity and WUE.
See more from this Division: SSSA Division: Soil & Water Management & Conservation
See more from this Session: Water, Nutrients, and Conservation Systems

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