Growth Performance of Chinese Cabbage using Soilless Cultivation Method

Growing plant in potting media without soil is known as Soilless cultivation. This method is used mostly in greenhouse cultivation to increase horticultural commodities production. Peat moss is commonly utilized as potting media substrate because of its characteristic. However, peat moss price is high because of the quantity of peat moss in nature has been decreased. Recently, most of the research is conducted to find the alternative growing medium to cultivate horticulture plant in potting media. Perlite and rice husk ash were mentioned that had a potent as alternative growing media for seasonal plants to increase agriculture production due to the lack of production area. This research aims to determine the growth of in rice husk ash, perlite and peat moss as growing substrates. The method used was the soilless cultivation. The chinese cabbage was planted in the pot with perlite media, rice husk ash media, and peat moss media. The chinese cabbage was measured after 35 days after planting. The result showed that peatmoss was more potentials in chinese cabbage growth performance than rice husk ash and perlite. Peat moss had the significant result of every research parameters such as plant height, plant weight, number of leaves, plant diameter, root length, and root weight. The best alternative for cultivation chinese cabbage without substrate based on this research was peat moss then rice husk ash and perlite.