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Effect of various growing media on growth and yield of lettuce in hydroponics system at Lalitpur, Nepal
41-47.Views:310Hydroponic farming, particularly using the nutrient film technique, is gaining traction as a sustainable approach for cultivating leafy vegetables such as lettuce. However, the selection of appropriate growing media remains critical for optimizing plant growth and yield in a soilless system. A completely randomized design (CRD) was used in this study to assess the impact of six distinct growing media (sponge made up of cellulose, perlite, saw dust, sand, cocopeat, and rice husk) on the growth and yield of lettuce under NFT conditions at Mutha Agro Pvt. Ltd., Lalitpur, Nepal. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) in RStudio (v4.4.1) was used to examine the data, and Tukey HSD test was used to differentiate treatment means at a 5% significance level. Lettuce grown in sponge media exhibited the highest performance in terms of number of leaves (11), longest leaf length (17.55 cm), greatest leaf width (9.43cm), plant height (35.81 cm), root length (12.51 cm), canopy diameter (36.07 cm), and stem diameter (0.62 cm). The highest fresh root weight (24.67 g) and moisture loss (98.7%) were obtained by perlite. The highest yield was recorded in sponge (146.45 g), followed by perlite (139.65 g), while the lowest was observed in rice husk (117.83 g). Overall, sponge made up of cellulose proved to be the most effective growing medium for hydroponic lettuce cultivation using NFT, followed by perlite. These findings can help guide growers in selecting suitable substrates to improve yield and quality in hydroponic production systems.
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Simultaneous impact of the different water supply and year type on processing tomato yield
79-81.Views:404A two year (2008 and 2009) open field experiment was conducted to study the effect of irrigation on the yield parameters and fruit components of processing tomato. Two different treatments were applied: regularly irrigated (RI), irrigation cut-off 30 days before harvest (CO), compared with unirrigated control (RF). The optimal water supply was calculated from average daily temperature. The aims of the study were to investigate the effect of different water supply on yield quantity. The regularly irrigated plant stands gave significantly higher yield, and unirrigated plants showed yield loss.Water supply had strong positive (R2=0.81) effect on marketable yield and average fruit weight (R2=0.78). Linear regression showed, that 46.5 mm more water supply caused 10 t/ha more marketable yield, and 13.4 mm more water supply caused 1 g more in the average fruit weight. The irrigation increased the Brix yield as well.
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Texture changes of vegetable cultivars measured by non-destructive methods
59-62.Views:258According to our experiments the tested group of non-destructive methods offers a useful tool not only to follow the texture changes of vegetables during storage but to characterize the firmness and vision parameters during the growing period as well. Advantages of these methods are: they are mobile, easy to set up, easy to use and quick. The suitable maturity state — and so the optimum harvest date also - can be determined by these methods. In addition, these methods can be built into sorting lines making possible to sort and classify great amounts of produces. These methods help the producer to offer homogenous products of controlled quality. They can be used for measuring different effects on vegetable's quality parameters (fertilization by different microelements, different irrigation effects on the product) as well.
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Impact of planting dates on yield and pod quality traits of snap bean under short-temperate season climates
57-63.Views:350Snap bean, a warm-season crop, have low frost tolerance. The optimal temperature for seed emergence and plant growth is important. Therefore, appropriate planting dates for adapted varieties has paramount significance in improving pod yield and quality of snap bean under short cool season climates. Three snap bean cultivars planted at 3 different dates were examined to evaluate the effects of planting dates on snap bean pod yield and quality traits in a 2-year study in a short season climate in Manitoba, Canada. Results of this study showed that three, two weeks apart, planting dates had a non- significant effect on marketing yield of three different cultivars tested in this study. Planting dates showed significant effect on un-marketable yield, pod fresh weight, pod length and total soluble solids. Higher marketable and un-marketable yields along with longer pod length and soluble solids, in all three cultivars, were more profound when seeded at mid and late planting dates. Snap bean grew under higher temperature and accumulated more growing degree days (GDD) when planted in mid June and early July when compared to early June planting. These results conclude that marketable yields of snap bean were not significantly affected by planting dates when seeded-two weeks apart-in shorter growing environments which allow commercial and market gardeners, in northern areas with shorter growing seasons to optimise planting snap bean, without reducing pod yield and quality.
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Effects of wastewater irrigation on soil physico-chemical properties and vegetables quality: A review
7-16.Views:797This study analyses the use of raw urban wastewater for irrigation and its effects on soil characteristics and heavy metal pollution within crops. There is rampant use of urban waste water by small scale urban vegetable farmers in Zimbabwe. This is posing health hazards to the consumers of urban vegetables and decrease in soil functioning. The significance of this study was to appraise the research study related to the use of urban waste water to answer the research question: What is the impact of waste water on selected soil physico-chemical properties and quantities of heavy metals in vegetables irrigated with waste water? A systematic review of 3100 articles from PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar (2010–2024) was performed within PRISMA guidelines. After excluding irrelevant studies, 49 from Nigeria, Bangladesh, Iran, Egypt, India, Pakistan, China, Saudi Arabia, and DRC were selected for analysis. These countries were found to have a lot of literature on urban waste water irrigation. This literature review identified an overview of existing literature on urban waste water irrigation and synthesise findings to provide a comprehensive overview of the topic The results showed (P<0.05) soil properties changed significantly: pH (6.0–7.0 to 4.5–5.5), electrical conductivity (0.2–0.4 to 1.5–2.0 dS/m), organic matter (2–3% to 4–6%), cation exchange capacity (10–15 to 20–25 meq/100g) all aligning with the intended outcomes. The level of nutrients (N, P, K) shifted alongside the source of wastewater. Soil also accumulated heavy metals (Zn, Cd, Pb, Fe, Mn, Cu) while the crops accumulated unsafe levels of Pb (2.5 mg/kg), Cd (1.2 mg/kg), and Cr (3.1 mg/kg) which surpassed WHO/FAO limits. The results highlighted the concern for health and environmental hazards. Treatment of the wastewater, monitoring of the soil, and stricter guidelines are needed for safe agricultural practice.
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Carotenoid composition and content in products of sea buckthorn and peach as determined by high-performance liquid chromatography
69-74.Views:1335A study was conducted to analyse the carotenoids by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using reversed-phase cross linked end-capping and to study the pigment content and composition in sea buckthorn products as well as in freshly harvested fruits from peach thees grown under organic and integrated farming conditions. It was found that carotenoids in fruits of both crops occur mainly esterified with fatty acids in form of mono- and di-esters. The major carotenoids were esters of zeaxanthin, lutein, β-cryptoxanthin and β-carotene. The major carotenoids showed different response to processing of sea buckthorn being highly sensitive to thermal treatments such as blanching, cooking and drying. Significant differences were found between peach varieties in their carotenoid content, whereas the impact of organic farming on carotenoids formation was found to be variety-dependent. Two of the three varieties examined in this work, when cultivated under organic farming conditions contained lower carotenoid level as compared to that found in the fruits of the same varieties but produced in integrated farms.
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Storability of paprika varieties measured by non-destructive acoustic method
49-53.Views:262During our experiments, the storability of paprika (Capsicum annuum) samples was measured by a non-destructive acoustic method. The aims of our work were the determination of the applicability and reproducibility of the acoustic stiffness method for paprika, the investigation of the optimum measuring conditions. In order to compare the main paprika varieties regarding shelf-life, our further aim was to follow the softening phenomenon or textural changes (i.e. changes in stiffness) of different paprika varieties measured by the nondestructive acoustic stiffness method. Five different varieties of paprika grown in hydroponics growing system were used for the measurements. All paprika varieties were stored at 20 °C for two weeks. Samples were tested on every 2nd or 3rd day. The acoustic method was found to be suitable to follow the softening of paprika samples. The characteristic frequency of the acoustic signal could be well detected and clearly separated from the other vibration peaks. Tapping the top of the paprika was observed to give a clearer and less noisy signal compared to the signal obtained by tapping the sample's shoulder. The acoustic results showed the same tendencies with regard to softening during storage as the impact method showed in our previous experiments.
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Effect of different biochar on acidic soil, growth, and nutritional status of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) under the nursery conditionrsery condition.
88-94.Views:520Biochar is a widely known organic amendment that enhances plant growth and productivity through improving soil condition and fertility. However, plant and soil response differently to various types of biochar. Therefore, the major objective of the present study was to determine the effect of two types of biochar; vetiver grass biochar (VGB) and pineapple leaf biochar (PLB) on selected soil properties and understand their role in improving plant growth and nutritional status. Net house experimental study with oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) seedlings was conducted at the farm unit of UiTM Samarahan campus for 240 days between November 2022 and July 2023 in order to understand the impact of different application rates (25, 50, 75, and 100%) of vetiver grass biochar and pineapple leaf biochar on selected soil properties including pH, electrical conductivity (EC), nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium content, plant growth parameters including plant height, bole diameter, leaf number, SPAD chlorophyll content, plant dry weight, and plant’s NPK content. The experimental design used is randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 8 treatments, 3 replicates, and each replicate has 6 plants. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) and DMRT were used to analyze the collected data from soil and plant parameters. The analysis process was accomplished using SAS package (P<0.05): version 9.4 (SAS, 2013). Based on the results, vetiver grass biochar and pineapple leaf biochar enhanced soil pH, EC, and NPK content. They also improved the growth and nutritional status of oil palm seedlings. Soil enhancement was the best with 100% pineapple leaf biochar. In addition, the highest mean value of plant height, bole diameter, leaf number, SPAD chlorophyll content, plant dry weight, and plant’s NPK content was observed in plants treated with 100% pineapple leaf biochar. Therefore, vetiver grass biochar and pineapple leaf biochar have the potential to enhance acidic and poor-fertile soil, and improve oil palm seedlings growth and nutritional status.
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Influence of environment in electro-chemical quality of tomato
17-20.Views:353The aim of the research was to investigate the impact of different cultivation environments of tomato cultivars, the electro-chemical and the qualitative traits of the tomato fruits. The quality of tomato fruit harvesting was evaluated at the Laboratory of Institute of Horticulture and Viticulture University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna. Two hybrids of tomatoes were tested Belle-F1 and AmaF1, in two locations and two different treatments (open field and plastic tunnels). Model of experimental fields was based on random method and included three replications. Following parameters were analyzed and tested: pH, Rh, P-Value, Nitrates and the content of vitamin C. The values of pH for treatment in the open field and indoor production system were not significant (4.47 to 5.05). For P-Value derived from the two treatments the maximal values were without significant differences, while minimal values were significant. Study has shown also that the highest values of nitrate content (16.34 mg, open field) compared to average value differences were + 0.384 mg or 43.83% higher. In indoor production the nitrate content was lower in compared with plants cultivated in open fields, so these differences were +3.81 mg or 26.4 0%, and highly significant for both levels. In relation to vitamin C content, the highest value was identified in the indoor systemof 298.6mg, with variations from the overall average of 16.43% or + 42.15 mg. The coefficient of variation values for both levels was of 29.96 respectively 27.31%.
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The impact of location, row direction, plant density and rootstock on the sunburn damage of apple cultivars
19-30.Views:1320The effect of row direction (N-S, E-W), plant density (conventional and intensive) and rootstock (M9, MM106 and crab apple) on the sensitivity of 41 apple cultivars to sunburn injury was studied at 6 locations (Derecske, Kálmánáaza, Nagykutas, Nagylapos, Siófok, Tornyospálca).
During the observations the cultivars had rootstock-specific properties in respect of sunburn-susceptibility. Accordingly, the injury was decreased in the order: M9, MM106 and seedling rootstocks. The differences in sensitivity depend on the canopy of trees, caused finally by the growing vigour of rootstocks. Accordingly, the highest value of sunburn injury was observed on M9 rootstock, because this rootstock has a dwarfing effect upon the scion cultivars. Thus, vegetative area of these trees grow very slowly and the foliage is not enough compact to protect the fruit from solar radiation. The size and density of the foliage increased in the order: M9, MM 106 and crab apple seedling as rootstock. Moreover, relationships were demonstrated between the diameter of upper part of the crown, the leaf area, the number of fruits per tree and the injury of sunburn.
Authors categorized the cultivars in respect of values of sunburn incidence: 1. „Not sensitive", II. „Moderately sensitive" and HI. „Strongly sensitive" categories were constituted. Generally, Topaz and Gala cultivars showed low damage (or were free from symptoms), in contrast to this, Golden mutants suffered relatively much. The most sensitive cultivar was Jonica on all the three rootstocks. We searched for relationship between the fruit quality parameters and the frequency of sunburn. Significant correlation was found in the cases of fruit size and the extent of cover-colour. The latter is interpreted with the fact that the best coloured fruits are found on the periphery of crown as a consequence of more intense irradiation.
