Soilless cultivation

Soilless cultivation is a new technology of crop cultivation developed in recent decades. Crops are not cultivated in soil, but in an aqueous solution (nutrient solution) containing dissolved minerals; or in a certain cultivation medium, crops are cultivated with nutrient solution. Because natural soil is not used, crops are grown using nutrient solution for irrigation, so it is called soilless cultivation. Soilless cultivation breaks away from the limitations of soil, greatly expands the space for agricultural production, and has broad development prospects.

Hydroponics

It refers to a type of soilless cultivation method in which part of the root system of the plant is immersed in the soilless cultivation nutrient solution and the other part of the root system is exposed in the moist air.

The main technical feature is that nutrient solution is used instead of soil for plant cultivation. There is no matrix to fix the root system in the environment where the plant root system grows.

Substrate cultivation

It refers to a method of cultivating crops using a solid matrix plus nutrient solution instead of natural soil. Commonly used inorganic matrices include vermiculite, perlite, rock wool, sand, polyurethane, etc.; organic matrices include peat, rice husk charcoal, bark, etc.

Substrate cultivation is the most popular method among soilless cultivation.

Aerosol cultivation

It is a new type of cultivation method. It is a soilless cultivation technology that uses a spray device to atomize nutrient solution into small droplets and spray them directly into the plant roots to provide the water and nutrients needed for plant growth.

Usually, polypropylene foam boards are used, with holes drilled at certain distances, and crops are cultivated in the holes. Two foam boards are placed diagonally into a triangle to form a space. The liquid supply pipe passes through the triangular space and sprays on the hanging roots. Generally, spray for a few seconds every 2-3 minutes to recycle the nutrient solution and ensure sufficient oxygen for the crop roots.

Advantages of soilless culture

Able to achieve early maturity and high yield of crops

Tomatoes grown without soil can mature 7 to 10 days earlier, and the yield can be increased by 0.5 to 1.0 times. The national average in the United States is 9,000 to 10,000 kilograms of tomatoes per crop, 9,000 to 15,000 kilograms of cucumbers, and 2,000 to 3,000 kilograms of lettuce per acre. The tomato output per mu is 26 tons/year in the UK, 26-30 tons/year in the Netherlands, and 21-25 tons/year in Japan.
Able to produce clean, hygienic and pollution-free products

Since soilless cultivation does not use farm fertilizers such as human excrement or manure, and there are relatively few pests and diseases, nor does it use large amounts of pesticides or spray herbicides, its products reduce pollution from fertilizers, parasites, pesticides and germs, and are clean and hygienic. No pollution.

can avoid pollution

Vegetable production in urban suburbs and industrial and mining areas is polluted by waste water, waste gas, waste residue and urban garbage, resulting in a decline in quality, which is harmful to people's health. Soilless cultivation effectively avoids urban pollution and ensures people's healthy diet.

Can avoid soil damage caused by continuous cropping

In protected land cultivation, due to limitations of facility conditions, in order to strive for multiple crops and high benefits, frequent continuous cropping of soil has resulted in serious soil-borne diseases and insect pests, continuous accumulation of soil salt, soil acidification, soil salinization, soil compaction and other continuous cropping obstacles. Soilless cultivation does not require land for planting, which can avoid the occurrence of soil continuous cropping obstacles.

Conducive to the modernization of vegetable cultivation

Since soilless cultivation simplifies the cultivation procedures and facilitates cultivation facilities and operation management, it is developing in the direction of automation and modernization.

Current status of soilless culture
Although the research on soilless culture technology in my country started relatively late, soilless culture has actually appeared in our country for a long time. Since the Song Dynasty, there has been a history of hydroculture of daffodils and hyacinths. The "floating fields" grown by boatmen in the south on rafts on the water have been ", allowing many crops to be nourished by rivers and lakes
At present, soilless cultivation is a key scientific research topic in my country. "At the research level, there is no bottleneck in the technology of soilless cultivation at this stage." Yu Hongjun, a researcher at the Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said. In recent years, development in the field of soilless cultivation has mostly been based on the improvement of previous results to meet more specific needs.
Even though there are no obvious bottlenecks in soilless cultivation technology, soilless cultivation still relies heavily on production costs. The input of nutrient solutions and substrates is much higher than the input of soil fertilizers. Therefore, soilless cultivation is basically only used for high-quality crops such as blueberries and strawberries. On the planting of crops with economic returns and crops in special environments. Due to cost constraints, it is currently impossible for soilless cultivation to completely replace soil cultivation.
Even though the technology is mature, there have been no more major breakthroughs and achievements in the field of soilless cultivation at home and abroad in recent years. In terms of technology application, there is still a gap between my country and many developed countries. In practical applications, my country's soilless cultivation should use more convenient, low-cost, and effective technologies and supporting facilities, truly apply scientific research to actual agricultural production, and realize the upgrade of agricultural models.
All in all, soilless cultivation is a major progress in the development of agriculture. Soilless cultivation technology allows green vitality to spread under specific or harsh conditions. Even though soilless cultivation still cannot completely replace traditional soil cultivation, it shows technological transcendence. Sex still has objective prospects, and soilless cultivation is worth looking forward to.