Growth of tomato plantlets in soilless culture, enriched with egg shell waste and algae

Handan Ertürk *

Department of Bioengineering, Konya Food and Agriculture University, Melikşah mah. Beyşehir cad. No. 9, 42080 Meram, Konya, Turkey
 
Research Article
International Journal of Science and Research Archive, 2021, 03(02), 161–167.
Article DOI: 10.30574/ijsra.2021.3.2.0117
Publication history: 
Received on 23 July 2021; revised on 23 September 2021; accepted on 25 September 2021
 
Abstract: 
In this research, it was aimed to use the Chlorella Vulgaris algae, and eggshell waste (ESW) as different mineral sources for tomato plant nutrition in soilless culture. Algae is seen as safe, sustainable energy source. Egg shell waste is known to be valuable for high calcium content and minerals therefore, has been considered as mineral enrichment source. Although there are several papers on the soil nutrition, there is not as much information on eggshell waste and algae use for plant production in soilless culture. In the controlled atmosphere of the laboratory, a set-up was constructed for pumping the liquid medium (hydroponics) circulating in the tubes holding the tomato plantlets. The liquid nutrient solutions used for soilless culture treatments were media enriched with algae, enriched with ESW and blank (hydroponic only). Research was conducted for 3 months, the final weight of harvested tomatoes and mineral uptake of the plant (stalk and tomato) for different treatments were measured. Algae added medium gave higher results in tomato weight, than ESW added and blank treatments. Results showed that algae and ESW addition led to increased Ca content in harvested tomato, as well as minerals such as B, K, Mg, and Zn. The results were as expected in terms of increase in mineral contents, but the statistics showed no significant difference between treatments.
 
Keywords: 
Soilless culture; Egg shell Waste; Algae; Environment; Sustainability
 
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