Abstract
Conventional soil-based agriculture is resource-intensive, utilizing large proportions of land and water, thereby placing a strain on Earth's natural resources. Soil-based agricultural techniques create environmental issues such as soil degradation, deforestation, and groundwater pollution from the mass implementation of fertilizers and pesticides. Agricultural crop production using hydroponics has shown promise to be less resource intensive and provide a faster turnaround in crop production. Soilless cultivation using hydroponics promises to relieve some pressure on Earth's ecosystems and resources. The APS Laboratory for Sustainable Food at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) compared the growth of Rex Butterhead Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) crop grown using soil and soilless methods to analyze the growth performance in each setting. Crops grown in the soil-based medium were raised in the FGCU Food Forest, used a mix of soil and potting mix, watered regularly, and followed standard Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices. Crops grown hydroponically were grown in a thermally insulated grow tent with an artificial lighting source, ventilation, environmental controls, and the Deep-Water Culture (DWC) method. Lettuce plugs were grown for 15 days in controlled environments until two leaves after the cotyledons had developed and were ready for transplant. Plugs were transplanted into a 4x6 matrix at the FGCU food forest and the DWC setup. Crops were grown to full bloom and ready for harvest in the soil (60 days) and soilless (30 days) based setups. We collected crop growth data, including wet weight (g), dry weight (g), leaf area (cm2), and chlorophyll concentration (µmol/m2). From the collected data, we derived the Specific Leaf Area (SLA, cm2/g) and biomass productivity (kg/m2). Descriptive statistics were used to describe the collected and derived data. We used analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to understand the differences in biomass and productivity parameters between lettuce grown using soil and hydroponics. Both growing methods could grow lettuce crops to full bloom and harvest weight. The biomass parameters and productivity differ significantly between the growing methods. The lettuce crops grown using hydroponics increase in wet weight statistically faster than those grown in soil (p<0.0001). Therefore, we believe that a hydroponic method of crop production may provide a better crop output and performance than soil-based growth. © 2023 ASABE Annual International Meeting. All Rights Reserved.
