Stinging nettle cultivation in floating

hydropon

Sanja Radman, Sanja Fabek, Ivanka Žutić,

Božidar Benko, Nina Toth

Novi Sad, May 25 - 27, 2014

5th CASEE Conference “Healthy Food Production and Environmental

Preservation – The Role of Agriculture, Forestry and Applied Biology”

Introduction

Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica L.)

Perennial herb widely distributed throughout the

temperate regions of the world (Bacci et al., 2009)

Best known as an abundant weed (Weiβ, 1993;

Harwood and Edom, 2012)

Undervalued despite great medicinal value (Bisht et

al., 2012)

Introduction

Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica L.)

Long history of use in alternative medicine for the

treatment of many diseases

Source of fiber and natural green color

Recently recognized as a promising plant because

of its exceptional nutritional, medicinal and

economic value

Introduction

Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica L.)

Used in medicine, food industries, textile

industries, cosmetic industries and in organic

production

Source of essential nutrients, vitamins, minerals

(Rutto et al., 2013) phenolic compounds (Otles et Yalcin,

2011)

Expressed antioxidant and antimicrobial activity (Stepanović et al., 2009)

Introduction

Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica L.)

If nettle is grown as a leafy vegetables harvest should be done before flowering

The largest percentage of stinging nettle is wild -harvested (Upton, 2013)

When nettles are gathered from natural habitat the control of quality standards is difficult (Weiβ, 1993)

Excessive collection from nature leads to habitat degradation natural resources are limited

It is necessary to introduce nettle in agricultural

production

Application of modern cultivation technology

(floating hydropon) can eliminate problems of

growing nettle in the open field

Consistent quality of plant material, higher yield

and increased number of harvest can be achieved

Introduction

Aim of the research

The aim of research was:

to examine the possibility of growing nettle

in floating hydropon

to determine the effect of sowing densities

and different substrates on morphological

characteristics and nettle yield

Material and methods

Urtica dioica L.

Autumn and spring growing period, 2012/2013

Two factorial trials

three sowing densities: 0.2, 0.5 and 0.9 g m-2

two substrates: perlite, vermiculite

Randomized block scheme with 3 replication

Sowing was made in polystyrene

boards, on September 6, 2012

Nutrient solution was

adjusted for leafy

vegetables and prepared

according to Tesi (2002)

Abiotic parameters

Air

• minimum, maximum and mean temperature

• relative humidity

Nutrient solution

• pH- and EC-values

Material and methods

Harvests

Autumn growing period

1. harvest: October 23, 2012

2. harvest: November 29, 2012

Spring growing period

1. harvest: March 15, 2013

2. harvest: April 16, 2013

3. harvest: May 6, 2013

Material and methods

The cutting was at the

height approximately 5

centimeters

Because of the capability

of the apical plant parts

regeneration it is possible to

achieve several harvests

Material and methods

Morphological characteristics (plant mass, number,

length and width of leaves, number of nodes, plant

height) and nettle yield were analyzed

Statistic analysis: ANOVA LSD test, significance

at p≤0.05 and P≤0.01.

Abiotic parameters of air

-5

5

15

25

35

45

55

65

75

85

Minimum temperature Maximum temperature Mean temperature Relative humidity

Spring growing period

°C

%

Autumn growing period

Plant dormancy in winter

Abiotic parameters of nutrient solution

0,00

1,00

2,00

3,00

4,00

5,00

6,00

7,00

8,00pH EC (dS/m)

Plant dormancy in winter

dS/m

Autumn growing period Spring growing period

Results – Analysis of variance for morphometric parameters in autumn growing period

Source of variance Plant mass,

g Number of

leaves Length of

leaves, mm Width of leaves,

mm Number of

nodes Plant height,

mm

First harvest

Substrate (S) * * * ** * **

Sowing density (D) ** * n.s. ** * **

S×D * * ** ** ** **

Second harvest

Substrate (S) * * * ** ** *

Sowing density (D) ** ** ** ** ** **

S×D * ** ** ** * **

*significant at p≤0.05,

**P≤0.01, n.s.=not significant

Results – Analysis of variance for morphometric parameters in spring growing period

Source of variance Plant mass,

g Number of

leaves Length of

leaves, mm Width of leaves,

mm Number of

nodes Plant height,

mm

First harvest

Substrate (S) ** * * ** ** **

Sowing density (D) ** ** ** ** ** **

S×D ** ** ** ** ** **

Second harvest

Substrate (S) * * * ** ** *

Sowing density (D) ** ** ** n.s. ** **

S×D ** ** ** ** ** **

*significant at p≤0.05, **P≤0.01, n.s.=not significant

Third harvest

Substrate (S) * * * * ** *

Sowing density (D) ** * * ** ** **

S×D * ** * ** * **

Results – Effect of substrate and sowing density on stinging nettle yield

Yield (kg m-2)

Treatment

Autumn growing period Spring growing period

First harvest Second harvest First harvest Second harvest Third harvest

Substrate

Perlite (P) 0.36 B 0.37 0.71 b 0.68 1.09 a

Vermiculite (V) 0.93 A 0.43 0.83 a 0.60 0.97 b

Sowing density

0.2 g m-2 0.50 b 0.42 0.91 A 0.80 A 1.31 A

0.5 g m-2 0.74 a 0.39 0.65 B 0.56 B 0.90 B

0.9 g m-2 0.70 a 0.39 0.74 AB 0.56 B 0.87 B

*Mean values followed by the same letter within each column do not differ significantly at p≤0.05 and P≤0.01 according to the LSD test

Results – Effect of substrate x sowing density on stinging nettle yield

0,00

0,20

0,40

0,60

0,80

1,00

1,20

1,40

1,60

First harvest Second harvest First Second Third

0,3

8 a

b

0,8

6 a

b

0,9

2 a

1,4

1 a

0,3

8 a

b

0.9

0 a

0,4

5 a

0,9

6 a

1,2

2 a

0.9

6 a

0,4

3 a

b

0.9

4 a

0,4

1 a

b

0,8

6 a

b

P × 0.2 g m-2 P × 0.5 g m-2 P × 0.9 g m-2 V × 0.2 g m-2 V × 0.5 g m-2 V × 0.9 g m-2

kg/m

2

Autumn growing period

Spring growing period

0,73

1,36

0,92 1,13 1,09

0,47

0,87 0,85

1,35 1,39 1,35

2,48

2,40 3,02

2,11 2,17

3,19

2,19 2,04

2,87

2,03 2,30

0,00

0,50

1,00

1,50

2,00

2,50

3,00

3,50

4,00

4,50

Perlite

(P)

Ver

mic

ulite

(V)

0.2

g m

-2

0.5

g m

-2

0.9

g m

-2

P ×

0.2

g m

-2

P ×

0.5

g m

-2

P ×

0.9

g m

-2

V ×

0.2

g m

-2

V ×

0.5

g m

-2

V ×

0.9

g m

-2

Substrata Sowing density Substrata×sowing density

Total yield in spring period Total yield in autumn period

kg/m

2

Results – Effect of substrate and sowing density on nettle total and cumulative yield

4.22

Conclusions

Stinging nettle showed good suitability to soilles

cultivation by floating system achieving satisfactory

yield per harvest

The highest yield was recorded in third harvest in

spring growing period by combination perlite × 0.2 g

m-2 (1.41 kg m-2) and vermiculite × 0.2 g m-2 (1.22 kg m-2)

Conclusions

The highest cumulative yield:

In spring: perlite × 0.2 g m-2 (3.19 kg m-2)

Combination perlite × 0.2 g m-2 can be proposed for

nettle cultivation in floating hydropon

Conclusions

Further investigations: nutritional and chemical

values at different nutrient solutions

Thank you for Your attention