Home » ABST Home » APPLIED BIO-SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY – VOL. 2, NO. 1, (2022) » VOL. 2, NO. 1, (2022) : ARTICLE 4

VOL. 2, NO. 1, (2022) : ARTICLE 4

Efficacy of Liquid Organic Fertilizers Derived from Eichhornia crassipes, Tithonia diversifolia and Gliricidia sepium on the Growth of Ipomoea aquatica under Hydroponic Conditions

Nirma Subashini, Mihiri Aththanayake, Thilini Suraweera, Anuradha Wickramathilake, Kaushalya Wijesinghe and Lahiru Udayanga

Abstract

Background: The current study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of liquid organic fertilizers produced from the extracts of three plant species, namely, Eichhornia crassipes, Tithonia diversifolia and Gliricidia sepium on the growth of Ipomoea aquatica under hydroponic conditions.

Methods: Six liquid organic fertilizer treatments were prepared form the aforementioned plant extracts and were used to cultivate Ipomoea aquatica, under hydroponic settings. Each treatment consisted of ten plants and the control system contained Albert solution. The prepared hydroponic systems were arranged in a Completely Randomized Design inside a semi protected plant house and the growth parameters of the plants were recorded up to 60 days. The General Linear Model (GLM) was used for the statistical comparisons.

Results: All the parameters denoted significant differences among the treatments (P<0.05), except for dry root weight, plant height and chlorophyll content. The Treatment 2 denoted the highest mean values for the vegetative parameters including, root length (18.2 ± 2.4), fresh root weight (0.44 ± 0.02), dry root weight 0.05 ± 0.01), dry shoot weight (0.21 ± 0.01), number of leaves (8.7 ± 0.6) and plant height (39.5 ± 3.3), while reporting the second highest values for fresh shoot weight (1.57 ± 0.1) and leaf area (48.1 ± 9.8).

Conclusions: Based on the findings, T2 treatment (Eichhornia crassipes 50% + Water 50%) can be recommended as the best performing liquid organic fertilizer medium, to be used in hydroponic cultivation systems.

Keywords: Eichhornia crassipes, Gliricidia sepiumv, Hydroponic Systems, Organic Fertilizers, Tithonia diversifolia

View Full PDF