The effect of different solid medium on the cultivation of spinach in soilless agriculture

The deterioration of the soil structure over time in the areas of intensive farming, accumulation of substances that can cause toxic effects on soils, disruption of microbiological and biochemical equilibrium, disruption of the nutrient retrieval mechanism and reasons such as intensification of diseases of soil origin led researchers to work on some alternative environments other than soil and as a result a new technique emerged as soilless agriculture. Soilless cultivation is being increasingly adopted in our country as well as all over the world by growers who can't get the expected yield from greenhouse soils. The materials used in the media in greenhouses can be inorganic and organic origin such as peat, perlite, pumice, zeolite, synthetic foams, rock wool, sawdust, bark, vermiculite. These cultivation media are used alone or mixed with each other in certain proportions. Spinach (Spinaciaoleracea L.) is one of the most important winter vegetables grown in our country. Spinach, which is one of the vegetables we eat leaves or green parts, is rich in vitamin C. Uncontrolled and unconscious fertilizers and leaves of excessive nitrate accumulation in leaf groups are likely to cause health problems. Sufficient and balanced fertilization methods should be applied together to eliminate these negative effects. In this study; The aim of this study was to determine the effect of different cultivation environments on yield and quality of spinach cultivation in the culture of solid medium in soilless agriculture. In the greenhouse conditions, 4 replications were carried out according to the trial design of random plots and 11 different mixtures were prepared as 25%, 33%, 50%, 75% and 100% of perlite, pumice and zeolite as cultivation medium. In terms of the effects of different proportions of perlite, pumice and zeolite, it is seen that the best results are obtained from zeolite + pumice mixtures. The yield and quality parameters of the spinach plants grown in the eighth application where the ratio of 50% Zeolite+50% Pumice, especially with the ratio of 75% Zeolite+25% Pumice, was more effective than the other applications. KEYWORDS: Perlite, pumice, soilless agriculture, solid medium, spinach, zeolite