Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer
Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Vol. 12 No. 1 (2025)

Hydroponic system of cultivation and runner removal enhanced plant growth and yield of strawberry cultivars

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.3271
Submitted
10 January 2024
Published
27-02-2025 — Updated on 07-03-2025
Versions

Abstract

Hydroponics is gaining popularity among growers due to changing climatic conditions and the shrinking of resources, particularly land and water. The present study was conducted at SKUAST-K, Shalimar during the months of February to June of 2021 and 2022 to determine the effects of hydroponics and runner removal on plant growth traits of strawberry cultivars with 8 treatment combinations comprised of 3 factors with 2 levels of each viz., variety, growing system and runner removal. The NFT system of hydroponic was used to grow strawberry plants. Treatments were arranged in RCBD with 4 replications. Findings revealed that V2 (Camarosa) had higher plant growth compared to V1 (Sweet Charlie). Significantly higher plant growth was also recorded under a hydroponic system (S2) than a traditional one (S1). Runner removal (R1) additionally benefitted the plant by diverting food energy used in runner growth to the main shoot and resulted in better shoot and root growth. Second-order interaction of treatments further clarified that V2 × S2 × R1 resulted in maximum shoot growth (plant height - 20.15 cm, shoot biomass - 7.20 g/plant and RGR - 0.58 g/g/week) compared to the minimum values of these parameters recorded with V1 × S1 × R0. The highest number of runners (7.92/plant) with maximum runner length (85.32 cm) was recorded with V1 × S1 while their minimum values were evident with V2 × S1. However, V2 × S1 registered the highest fresh weight (6.13 g/plant) and dry weight (0.45 g/plant) of runners along with the number of propagules (6.93/runner) against their minimum values recorded with V1 × S1. V1 × S2 × R1 resulted in the highest number of fruits (23.32/plant), fruit breadth (3.31 cm) and fruit yield (288.00 g/plant) compared to other interactions.

References

  1. Anonymous. Release of final estimates of 2019-20 and first ad-vance estimates of 2020-21 of area and production of horticul-tural crops, 2020. Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. 2020. https://pib.gov.in/Pressrelease share.aspx?PRID=1703196
  2. Gashgari R, Alharbi K, Mughrbil K, Jan A, Glolam A. Comparison between growing plants in hydroponic system and soil-based system. Proceedings of the 4th World Congress on Mechanical, Chemical and Material Engineering (MCM'18), 2018; Madrid, Spain-August 16-18, 2018 Paper No. ICMIE131. https://doi.org/10.11159/icmie18.131
  3. Rajaseger G, Chan KL, Yee TK, Ramasamy S, Khin MC, Amaladoss A, et al. Hydroponics: current trends in sustainable crop produc-tion. Bioinformation. 2023;19(9): 925-38. https://doi.org/10.6026/97320630019925
  4. Beibel JP. Hydroponics - The science of growing crops without soil. Florida Department of Agriculture. Bulletin. 1960; 180p.
  5. William GF. Hydroponics - crop production in liquid culture media. Science. 1937;85(2198):177-78. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.85.2198.177
  6. Debangshi U. Hydroponics – an overview. Chronicle of Biore-source Management. 2021;5(3):110-14. https://ojs.pphouse.org/index.php/CBM/article/view/3917
  7. Khan FA, Narayan S, Khan, FU, Dar MA, Amir M, Moinuddin, Astha. Hydroponic vegetables: A sustainable food production system and profitable venture under climate change. Indian Horticulture. 2023a;68(2):82-86. https://epubs.icar.org.in/index.php/IndHort/article/view/135859
  8. Khan FA, Saima Fayaz, Dar ZM, Khan FU, Mohammad Amir, Astha, Moinuddin. Response of straw berry crop to runner re-moval: A review. The Pharma Innovation Journal. 2023b;12(3):5581-85. https://www.thepharmajournal.com/archives/?year=2023&vol=12&issue=3&ArticleId=19561
  9. Velazquez-Gonzalez RS, Garcia-Garcia AL, Ventura-Zapata E, Barceinas-Sanchez JDO, Sosa-Savedra JC. A Review on hydro-ponics and the technologies associated for medium- and small-scale operations. Agriculture. 2022;12:646. https://doi.org/10. 3390/agriculture12050646
  10. Resh HM. Hydroponic food production: a definitive guidebook for the advanced home gardener and the commercial hydro-ponic grower. St. Bárbara, EUA. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003133254
  11. Treftz C, Zhang F, Omaye ST. Comparison between hydroponic and soil-grown strawberries: sensory attributes and correlations with nutrient content. Food and Nutrition Sciences. 2015;6(15):1371. https://doi.org/10.4236/fns.2015.615143
  12. Barman NC, Hasan MM, Islam MR, Banu NA. A review on present status and future prospective of hydroponics technique. Plant Environment Development. 2016;5(2):1-7. https://www.scribd.com/document/522999002/A-Review-on-Present-Status-and-Future-Prospective
  13. Kamepalli H. Hydroponics: Indian outlook. The Times of India. June 8, 2023. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices/hydroponics-indian-outlook/
  14. Hughes BR, Zandstra J, Taghavi T, Dale A. Effects of runner re-moval on productivity and plant growth of two day-neutral strawberry cultivars in Ontario, Canada. Acta Horticulturae. 2017;1156:327-32. https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2017.1156.50
  15. Rahman MM, Rahman MM, Hossain MM, Khaliq QA, Moniruz-zaman M. Effect of planting time and genotypes growth, yield and quality of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.). Scientia Horticulturae. 2014;167(6):56-62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2013.12.027
  16. Hoagland DR, Snyder WC. Nutrition of strawberry plant under controlled conditions. (a) Effects of deficiencies of boron and certain other elements, (b) susceptibility to injury from sodium salts. Proceedings of the American Society for Horticultural Science. 1933;30:288-94. https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/full/10.5555/19351100824
  17. Fisher RA. Some remarks on the methods formulated in a recent article on the quantitative analysis of plant growth. Annals of Applied Biology. 1921;7(4):367-72. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7348.1921.tb05524.x
  18. Rao MLN, Venkateswarlu B, Murty AVSN. Influence of population pressure on drought sustenance and root characteristics of dryland rice. Indian Journal of Plant Physiology. 1992;35(1):38-43.
  19. Swarup S, Cargill EJ, Crosby K, Flagel L, Kniskern J, Glenn KC. Genetic diversity is indispensable for plant breeding to improve crops. Crop Science. 2020;61(2):839-52. https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20377
  20. Vikas KA, Kumar A, Singh A, Kumar P, Rafie J, Verma P, Kumar A. Influence of different nutrient concentration on strawberry under hydroponic cultivation system. International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences. 2017;6:2999-3006. https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas
  21. Verdoliva SG, Gwyn-Jones D, Detheridge A, Robson P. Con-trolled comparisons between soil and hydroponic systems re-veal increased water use efficiency and higher lycopene and ?-carotene contents in hydroponically grown tomatoes. Scientia Horticulturae. 2021;15:279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2021.109896
  22. Lyu CB, Yang WJ, Li KT. Partial defoliation and runner removal affect runnering, fruiting, leaf photosynthesis and root growth in ‘Toyonoka’strawberries for subtropical winter production. Horticulture, Environment and Biotechnology. 2014;55(5):372-79. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13580-014-0001-1
  23. Sonsteby A, Woznicki TL, Heide OM. Effects of runner removal and partial defoliation on the growth and yield performance of ‘Favori’everbearing strawberry plants. Horticulturae. 2021;7(8): 215. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae7080215
  24. Rivero R, Sønsteby A, Heide OM, Solhaug KA, Remberg S.F. Growth analysis of the everbearing strawberry ‘Delizzimo’under controlled temperature and photoperiod conditions. CABI Agri-culture and Bioscience. 2022;3(1):43. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43170-022-00110-w
  25. Huber J, Zheng Y, Dixon M. Hydroponic cucumber production using a new recyclable growth substrate and irrigation system. Acta Horticulturae. 2009;843:303-10. https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2009.843.40
  26. Nagel KA, Kastenholz B, Gilmer F, Schurr U, Walter A. Novel de-tection system for plant protein production of pharmaceuticals and impact on conformational diseases. Protein and Peptide Letters.2010;17:723-31. https://doi.org/10.2174/092986610791190282
  27. Bell LW. Relative growth rate, resource allocation and root mor-phology in the perennial legumes, Medicago sativa, Dorycnium rectum and D. hirsutum grown under controlled conditions. Plant and Soil. 2005;270:199-211. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-004-1495-6
  28. Peng Y, Niklas KJ, Sun S. The relationship between relative growth rate and whole-plant C: N: P stoichiometry in plant seed-lings grown under nutrient-enriched conditions. Journal of Plant Ecology. 2011;4(3):143-56. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtq026
  29. Koelewijn HP. Rapid change in relative growth rate between the vegetative and reproductive stage of the life cycle in Plantago coronopus. New Phytologist. 2004;163(1):67-76. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2004.01078.x
  30. Eshel A, Beeckman T. Eds. Plant roots: the hidden half. CRC Press. 2013; https://doi.org/10.1201/b14550
  31. Lynch PT, Benson EE, Keith H. Climate change: the role of ex situ and cryo-conservation in the future security of economically important, vegetatively propagated plants. The Journal of Hor-ticultural Science and Biotechnology. 2007;82(2):157-60. https://doi.org/10.1080/14620316.2007.11512213
  32. White PJ, Brown P. Plant nutrition for sustainable development and global health. Annals of Botany. 2010;105(7):1073-80. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcq085
  33. Chen X, Zhu Y, Ding Y, Pan R, Shen W, Yu X, Xiong F. The relation-ship between characteristics of root morphology and grain fill-ing in wheat under drought stress. Peer J. 2021;9:12015. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12015
  34. Santos J D, Da Silva ALL, Costa JL, Scheidt GN, Novak AC, Syd-ney EB, Soccol CR. Development of a vinasse nutritive solution for hydroponics. J Environ Manage. 2013;114:8-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2012.10.045
  35. Shalini K, Pratibha P, Ranjeet Y, Santosh K. Hydroponic tech-nique: a soilless cultivation in agriculture. Journal of Pharma-cognosy and Phytochemistry. 2018;SP1:1886-91. https://www.phytojournal.com/archives/2018/vol7issue1S/PartAB/SP-7-1-588.pdf
  36. Sankhalkar S, Komarpant R, Dessai TR, Simoes J, Sharma S. Effects of soil and soil-less culture on morphology, physiology and biochemical studies of vegetable plants. Current Agricul-ture Research. 2019;7(2): 222-51. http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CARJ.7.2.06
  37. Sharma N, Acharya S, Kumar K, Singh N, Chaurasia OP. Hydro-ponics as an advanced technique for vegetable production: An overview. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. 2018;17(4):364-71. https://doi.org/10.5958/2455-7145.2018.00056.5
  38. Sardare MD, Admane SV. A review on plant without soil-hydroponics. International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology. 2013;2(3):299-304. https://doi.org/10.15623/IJRET.2013.0203013
  39. Albregts EE, Howard CM. Effects of runner removal on strawber-ry fruiting response. Hort Science. 1986;21:97-98. https://doi.org/10.21273/hortsci.21.1.97
  40. Handley DT, Dill JF, Moran RE. Prohexadione-calcium applica-tions to suppress runner growth in strawberry grown in a plas-ticulture system. Acta Horticulturae. 2009;842:801-04. https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2009.842.176
  41. Jan S, Baba JA, Sharma MK, Qurat S, Wani FT, Nisar S, et al. Evaluation of different strawberry cultivars for growth, yield and quality characters under temperate conditions of north western Himalayas. International Journal of Current Microbial and Ap-plied Sciences. 2021;10(3):837-44. https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2021.1003.106
  42. Das AK, Singh KP, Prasad B, Ravindra K. Evaluation of cultivars of strawberry, a temperate fruit for its adaptability as well as productivity in sub-tropical agro-climatic condition of Supaul district in Bihar. Asian Journal of Horticulture. 2015;10(2):278-81. https://doi.org/10.15740/HAS/TAJH/10.2/278-281
  43. Bakshi P, Bhat DJ, Wali VK, Sharma A, Iqbal M. Growth, yield and quality of strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) cv. Chandler as influenced by various mulching materials. African Journal of Agricultural Research. 2014;9(7):701-06. https://doi.org/10.5897/AJAR2013.7983
  44. Maher MM, Shylla B, Sharma DD, Sharma U. Influence of differ-ent soilless substrates and jeevamrit on flowering and fruiting behavior of strawberry (Frageris X ananassa Dutch.) cv. Chan-dler. Journal of Pharamcognosy and Phytochemistry. 2020;9(4):428-32. https://doi.org/10.22271/phyto.2020.v9.i4f.11723

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.