Aquaponics is the combined culture of fish and plants in recirculating aquaculture systems, considered to be an innovative, eco-friendly and sustainable technology. So, the main aim of this work is to study the effect of flow rate and culture system on nutrients consumption rate and lettuce productivity in hydroponic and aquaponic systems.
To achieve that, two nutrients sources (effluent fish farm and stock nutrient solution), three systems of hydroponics (deep water, A shape and gutter systems), and three flow rates are 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 L h -1 plant-1 were compared. Also, the water use efficiency of lettuce plants was determined. The various water quality parameters and plant growth were studied for the treatment under study. The obtained results indicated that the highest values of N, P, k, Ca, and mg consumption rate were found with a gutter hydroponic system and 1.5 L h-1 plant-1 of flow rate for lettuce plants grown in the nutrient solution.
The fresh weight of the whole plant for lettuce plants grown in a gutter hydroponic system was better than those grown in different culture systems. The highest value of the water use efficiency of lettuce plants was 46.11 kg m-3 was found with nutrient solution for a gutter hydroponic system.
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Khater, Elsayed & Ali, Samir. (2022). NUTRIENTS CONSUMPTION OF LETTUCE PLANTS IN HYDROPONIC AND AQUAPONIC SYSTEMS. 39. 299-322.