DEVELOPMENT OF GREENHOUSE AND CONSTRUCTION OF ROOT DIPPING HYDROPONIC PLANTING STRUCTURE TO TEST THE PERFORMANCE OF TWO VEGETABLES

Abstract

Hydroponic is a modern-day agriculture also known as urban agriculture. It does not require soil therefore it is also known as soilless agriculture. It is a good alternative for producing healthy crops and vegetables, free from soil borne pathogens as it is not grown on soil. The experiment was carried out on two different crops (jute mallow and Okra) in a newly developed greenhouse and root dipping hydroponics (RDH) system at Agricultural Engineering experimental farm Oba-nla, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria. The crops were also planted using conventional farming method (Soil) in order to compare the yield and growth of RDH to that of conventional farming. Growth parameters such as plant height, stem girth and leaf number were collected. Also measured were the yield for each crop at the end of the experiment. The plants performed well on RDH system than conventional planting system, Results showed that RDH for jute mallow (ewedu) and okra gave the highest plant height (19.79 cm, 38.03 cm), number of leaves (30.93, 116.30) and stem girth (0.4450 cm, 0.52 cm) while soil conventional farming system for these vegetables gave the lowest plant height (17.99 cm, 31.81 cm), number of leaves (27.96, 81.50) and stem girth (0.4159 cm, 0.45 cm) respectively. Higher yields were also recorded from RDH system for the two vegetables while the conventional farming had the lower yield. The RDH system for these vegetables (jute mallow and okra) recorded significantly higher fruit weight (133.52 kg, 20.26 kg) fresh weight of stem (195.29 kg, 28.27 kg) and fresh weight of root (79.34 kg, 19.91 kg) respectively while conventional farming had the lower fruit weight (121.81 kg, 19.96 kg), fresh weight of stem (177.12 kg, 19.55 kg) and fresh weight of root (72.32 kg, 19.55 kg) . The physiological appearance and the yields were significantly (P<0.05) affected by the various treatments with its physicochemical features. The proximate and mineral composition of the fruits and the vegetables were within the recommended range by World Health Organization (WHO) values but were significantly (P<0.05) affected by the treatments effects as a result of its physicochemical features. With the outcome of this research, it is strongly advised that soilless farming should be embraced by farmers especially in areas where there is limitation of land for agricultural activities as it makes available fresh vegetable all year round.