The main objective of this research is to study the effect of aeration on preventing the root problems by comparing the hydroponic system with aeration to the aeroponic system. The obtained results indicated that the root length increased from 17.17 to 19.13 cm with increasing flow rate from 1.0 to 2.0 L h-1 in hydroponic system and increased from 17.45 to 19.56 cm with increasing flow rate from 0.5 to 1.5 L h-1 in aeroponic system. The fresh and dry mass of shoot and root were increased in aeroponic system over those of hydroponic system. The total nutrients uptake values were higher in aeroponic system than those in hydroponic system. The average nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium uptakes were 3.29, 1.25, 2.46, 0.43 and 0.44 %and 2.13, 0.82, 1.81, 0.32 and 0.40 % for aeroponic and hydroponic system, respectively. The average nitrate content was 155.52 and 113.73 mg plant-1 for aeroponic and hydroponic system, respectively. The average nitrate protein ratio was 1.91 and 4.16%, for aeroponic and hydroponic system, respectively. The average water use efficiency was 4.75 and 2.93 kg m-3 for hydroponic and aeroponic system, respectively. |
