Investigating minimal requirements for plants on textile substrates in low-cost hydroponic systems

Bennet Brockhagen; Fabian Schoden; Jan Lukas Storck; Timo Grothe; Christian Eßelmann; Robin Böttjer; Anke Rattenholl; Frank Gudermann; Bennet Brockhagen; Fabian Schoden; Jan Lukas Storck; Timo Grothe; Christian Eßelmann; Robin Böttjer; Anke Rattenholl; Frank Gudermann

doi:10.3934/bioeng.2021016

AIMS Bioengineering

2021, Volume 8, Issue 2: 173-191. doi: 10.3934/bioeng.2021016

Previous Article Next Article

Research article Special Issues

Investigating minimal requirements for plants on textile substrates in low-cost hydroponic systems

1.
Institute for Technical Energy Systems (ITES), Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, Interaktion 1, 33619 Bielefeld, Germany
2.
Faculty of Engineering and Mathematics, Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, Interaktion 1, 33619 Bielefeld, Germany

Received: 14 February 2021 Accepted: 08 April 2021 Published: 12 May 2021

With a growing world population and the concentration of citizens in big cities new methods of agriculture are required. Vertical farming attracts more attention in mending these growing problems. To enable a widespread use of low-cost hydroponic systems this study investigates minimal requirements for plants (different herbs and vegetables) in such a hydroponic vertical farming system and the suitability of textiles as sustainable substrates. Therefore, this study aims to investigate plant stress levels, germination rates and water usage in a low-cost hydroponic system with no special lightning in principle comparison with indoor cultivation in soil. The results of the pulse-amplitude-modulation (PAM) measurements as measure of photosynthetic performance indicate that the plants were equally stressed in hydroponic and in soil cultivation. In this respect, the photosynthetic quantum yield in both cultivation systems is on average only slightly lower than the values expected under optimal conditions. It was observed that chive and lovage not only had a significantly higher germination rate in the hydroponic system but also accumulated significantly more fresh as well as dry biomass, while spinach, thyme and marjoram showed higher germination rates in soil cultivation. The water consumption in the setup was considerably higher for the hydroponic system compared to indoor soil cultivation.
- vertical farming,
- plant stress,
- textile fabrics,
- knitted fabrics,
- hydroponics,
- water efficiency,
- photosynthesis,
- pulse-amplitude-modulation
Citation: Bennet Brockhagen, Fabian Schoden, Jan Lukas Storck, Timo Grothe, Christian Eßelmann, Robin Böttjer, Anke Rattenholl, Frank Gudermann. Investigating minimal requirements for plants on textile substrates in low-cost hydroponic systems[J]. AIMS Bioengineering, 2021, 8(2): 173-191. doi: 10.3934/bioeng.2021016

Related Papers:

Abstract

With a growing world population and the concentration of citizens in big cities new methods of agriculture are required. Vertical farming attracts more attention in mending these growing problems. To enable a widespread use of low-cost hydroponic systems this study investigates minimal requirements for plants (different herbs and vegetables) in such a hydroponic vertical farming system and the suitability of textiles as sustainable substrates. Therefore, this study aims to investigate plant stress levels, germination rates and water usage in a low-cost hydroponic system with no special lightning in principle comparison with indoor cultivation in soil. The results of the pulse-amplitude-modulation (PAM) measurements as measure of photosynthetic performance indicate that the plants were equally stressed in hydroponic and in soil cultivation. In this respect, the photosynthetic quantum yield in both cultivation systems is on average only slightly lower than the values expected under optimal conditions. It was observed that chive and lovage not only had a significantly higher germination rate in the hydroponic system but also accumulated significantly more fresh as well as dry biomass, while spinach, thyme and marjoram showed higher germination rates in soil cultivation. The water consumption in the setup was considerably higher for the hydroponic system compared to indoor soil cultivation.

Acknowledgments

The project was partly funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in the scope of the ZIM project ZF4036107 and by the HiF fund of Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences. The APC is funded by the Open Access Publication Fund of Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences. We thank Martina Holt and Karl-Josef Dietz for constructive criticism of the manuscript, lending laboratory equipment and for advice on the implementation of the experiments. Furthermore, we thank Anja Storck for her kind support.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Author contributions

Bennet Brockhagen: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, visualization; Fabian Schoden: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, visualization, writing–first draft; Jan Lukas Storck: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, visualization; Timo Grothe: conceptualization, investigation, visualization; Christian Eßelmann: investigation, validation; Robin Böttjer: methodology; Anke Rattenholl: validation; Frank Gudermann: validation. All authors read and substantially modified the manuscript.

References

[1]	Kalantari F, Mohd Tahir O, Mahmoudi Lahijani A, et al. (2017) A review of vertical farming technology: A guide for implementation of building integrated agriculture in cities. Adv Eng Forum 24: 76-91. doi: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/AEF.24.76
[2]	Despommier D (2013) Farming up the city: The rise of urban vertical farms. Trends Biotechnol 31: 388-389. doi: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2013.03.008
[3]	Al-Chalabi M (2015) Vertical farming: Skyscraper sustainability? Sustain Cities Soc 18: 74-77. doi: 10.1016/j.scs.2015.06.003
[4]	Benke K, Tomkins B (2017) Future food-production systems: Vertical farming and controlled-environment agriculture. Sustain Sci Pract Policy 13: 13-26.
[5]	Udovichenko A, Fleck BA, Weis T, et al. (2021) Framework for design and optimization of a retrofitted light industrial space with a renewable energy-assisted hydroponics facility in a rural northern canadian community. J Build Eng 37: 102160. doi: 10.1016/j.jobe.2021.102160
[6]	Majid M, Khan JN, Shah QM A, et al. (2021) Evaluation of hydroponic systems for the cultivation of Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L., var. Longifolia) and comparison with protected soil-based cultivation. Agric Water Manage 245: 106572. doi: 10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106572
[7]	Cámara-Zapata JM, Brotons-Martínez JM, Simón-Grao S, et al. (2019) Cost–benefit analysis of tomato in soilless culture systems with saline water under greenhouse conditions. J Sci Food Agric 99: 5842-5851. doi: 10.1002/jsfa.9857
[8]	Storck JL, Böttjer R, Vahle D, et al. (2019) Seed germination and seedling growth on knitted fabrics as new substrates for hydroponic systems. Horticulturae 5: 73. doi: 10.3390/horticulturae5040073
[9]	Vinci G, Rapa M (2019) Hydroponic cultivation: life cycle assessment of substrate choice. Brit Food J 121: 1801-1812. doi: 10.1108/BFJ-02-2019-0112
[10]	B Böttjer R, Storck J L, Vahle D, et al. (2019) Influence of textile and environmental parameters on plant growth on vertically mounted knitted fabrics. Tekstilec 62: 200-207. doi: 10.14502/Tekstilec2019.62.200-207
[11]	Ehrmann A (2019) On the possible use of textile fabrics for vertical farming. Tekstilec 62: 34-41. doi: 10.14502/Tekstilec2019.62.34-41
[12]	Haris I, Fasching A, Punzenberger L, et al. CPS/IoT Ecosystem: Indoor vertical farming system (2019) . doi: 10.1109/ISCE.2019.8900974
[13]	Both AJ, Albright LD, Langhans RW, et al. Hydroponic lettuce production influenced by integrated supplemental light levels in a controlled environment agriculture facility: Experimental results (1997) . doi: 10.17660/ActaHortic.1997.418.5
[14]	Kalantari F, Tahir OM, Joni RA, et al. (2018) Opportunities and challenges in sustainability of vertical farming: a review. J Landscape Ecol 11: 35-60. doi: 10.1515/jlecol-2017-0016
[15]	Naik PK, Gaikwad SP, Gupta MJ, et al. (2013) Low cost devices for hydroponics fodder production. Indian Dairyman 65: 68-72.
[16]	Alatorre-Cobos F, Calderón-Vázquez C, Ibarra-Laclette E, et al. (2014) An improved, low-cost, hydroponic system for growing Arabidopsis and other plant species under aseptic conditions. BMC Plant Biol 14: 69. doi: 10.1186/1471-2229-14-69
[17]	Riggio GM, Jones SL, Gibson KE (2019) Risk of human pathogen internalization in leafy vegetables during lab-scale hydroponic cultivation. Horticulturae 5: 25. doi: 10.3390/horticulturae5010025
[18]	Barbosa GL, Almeida Gadelha FD, Kublik N, et al. (2015) Comparison of land, water, and energy requirements of lettuce grown using hydroponic vs. conventional agricultural methods. Int J Environ Res Public Health 12: 6879-6891. doi: 10.3390/ijerph120606879
[19]	Al-Karaki GN, Al-Hashimi M Green fodder production and water use efficiency of some forage crops under hydroponic conditions (2012) . doi: 10.5402/2012/924672
[20]	Bradley P, Marulanda C Simplified hydroponics to reduce global hunger (2001) . doi: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2001.554.31
[21]	Al-Karaki GN, Al-Momani N (2011) Evaluation of some barley cultivars for green fodder production and water use efficiency under hydroponic conditions. Jordan J Agric Sci 7: 448-457.
[22]	Entezari A, Wang RZ, Zhao S, et al. (2019) Sustainable agriculture for water-stressed regions by air-water-energy management. Energy 181: 1121-1128. doi: 10.1016/j.energy.2019.06.045
[23]	Zhu F (2018) Modifications of konjac glucomannan for diverse applications. Food Chem 256: 419-426. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2018.02.151
[24]	Zhang H, Cui S, Lv H, et al. (2019) A crosslinking strategy to make neutral polysaccharide nanofibers robust and biocompatible: With konjac glucomannan as an example. Carbohyd Polym 215: 130-136. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2019.03.075
[25]	Ellis RH, Hong TD, Roberts EH (1985) Handbook of seed technology for genebanks—volume II. Compendium of specific germination information and test recommendation Rome: International Board for Plant Genetic Resources, 221-237.
[26]	Enza Zaden, Thymian Deutscher Winter (Thymus vulgaris, Labiatae), 2021 Available from: https://www.enzazaden.com/de/products-and-services/our-products/German Winter.
[27]	Pharmasaat, Thymus vulgaris, Thymian, 2021 Available from: https://www.pharmasaat.de/onlineshop/Kraeuter-Saatgut/Thymus-vulgaris-Thymian::171.html?language=de.
[28]	Der Bio-Gärtner, Thymian (Thymus vulgaris), 2021 Available from: https://www.bio-gaertner.de/Pflanzen/Thymian.
[29]	ReinSaat, Majoran (Dost), 2021 Available from: https://www.reinsaat.at/shop/DE/kuechen-_und_gewuerzkraeuter/majoran_dost/.
[30]	Pharmasaat, Origanum majorana, Majoran, 2021 Available from: https://www.pharmasaat.de/onlineshop/Kraeuter-Saatgut/Origanum-majorana-Majoran::128.html?language=de#.
[31]	Gartenjournal, Majoran säen – Tipps und Tricks für die Aussaat, 2021 Available from: https://www.gartenjournal.net/majoran-saeen.
[32]	Gartendialog, Lichtkeimer oder Dunkelkeimer: Unterschiede\|71 Pflanzen, 2021 Available from: https://www.gartendialog.de/lichtkeimer-dunkelkeimer/.
[33]	Oh S, Moon KH, Song EY, et al. (2015) Photosynthesis of Chinese cabbage and radish in response to rising leaf temperature during spring. Hortic Environ Biotechnol 56: 159-166. doi: 10.1007/s13580-015-0122-1
[34]	Schreiber U (2004) Pulse-amplitude-modulation (PAM) fluorometry and saturation pulse method: an overview. Chlorophyll a fluorescence 19: 279-319. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4020-3218-9_11
[35]	Lennard W, Ward JA (2019) A comparison of plant growth rates between an NFT hydroponic system and an NFT aquaponic system. Horticulturae 5: 27. doi: 10.3390/horticulturae5020027
[36]	Smart Garden Guide, What is the best pH for hydroponics?, 2021 Available from: https://smartgardenguide.com/best-ph-for-hydroponics/.
[37]	Ashton J, Geary L (2011) The effects of temperature on pH measurement. TSP 1: 1-7.
[38]	Nakaoka S, Yamada A A system for measuring the photosynthetic activity of water plants based on carbon dioxide absorption (2012) . doi: 10.1109/MHS.2012.6492395
[39]	Shipman LL, Cotton TM, Norris JR, et al. (1976) An analysis of the visible absorption spectrum of chlorophyll a monomer, dimer, and oligomers in solution. J Am Chem Soc 98: 8222-8230. doi: 10.1021/ja00441a056
[40]	Zhang X, He D, Niu G, et al. (2018) Effects of environment lighting on the growth, photosynthesis, and quality of hydroponic lettuce in a plant factory. Int J Agric Biol Eng 11: 33-40.
[41]	Steingröver E, Ratering P, Siesling J (1986) Daily changes in uptake, reduction and storage of nitrate in spinach grown at low light intensity. Physiol Plant 66: 550-556. doi: 10.1111/j.1399-3054.1986.tb05965.x
[42]	Stanghellini ME, Stowell LJ, Bates ML (1984) Control of root rot of spinach caused by Pythium Aphanidermatum in a recirculating hydroponic system by ultraviolet irradiation. Plant Dis 68: 1075-1076. doi: 10.1094/PD-69-1075
[43]	Sutton JC, Sopher CR, Owen-Going TN, et al. (2006) Etiology and epidemiology of Pythium root rot in hydroponic crops: current knowledge and perspectives. Summa Phytopathol 32: 307-321. doi: 10.1590/S0100-54052006000400001

Reader Comments

your name:*

Email:*
© 2021 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)