• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
• /
• v.37 no.2
• /
• pp.199-207
• /
• 2010

This research was conducted to determine the influence of physiological and chemical properties of root substrates on the growth of the daughter plants of 'Maehyang' strawberry produced by bag culture. The daughter plants produced by stock plants during bag culture were individually separated and grown in 10-cm diameter plastic pots containing six different formulations of root substrates: a) 50% peatmoss plus 50% vermiculite (5:5 by volume, A), b) 70% peatmoss plus 30% perlite (7:3, B), c) 70% coir dust plus 30% perlite (7:3, C), d) mixture of 35% coir dust, 35% peatmoss, and 30% perlite (3.5:3.5:3.0, D), e) mixture of 20% rice hull, 70% coir dust, and 10% perlite (2:7:1, E), and f) 30% rice hull plus 70% coir dust (30:70, F). The container capacity and air filled porosity of the growing medium varied greatly among the six substrate formulations evaluated. The substrates E and F had less container capacity and higher air-holding spaces than the rest of the formulations. Therefore, these two formulations (E and F) may cause a problem in water management during the production of healthy daughter plants. The substrate formulations A, B, and D retained higher nitrogen (N) concentrations than other formulations containing coir dust or rice hull. The substrate formulations E and F which contained rice hull had lower N, phosphorus (P), and potassium(K) concentrations than other substrate formulations containing coir. The quality of the daughter plants grown in all six different substrate formulations was good with the crown diameters at around 10 mm. Fresh weights of the daughter plants grown in substrate formulations A, C, and D were higher than those obtained from B, E, and F. Dry weights of the daughter plants showed a similar trend. The daughter plants having high fresh and dry weights and increased crown diameter are in demand by the industry. For this reason, the substrate formulations A, C and D can readily be used as potting mixes during the production of 'Maehyang' strawberry transplants utilizing the bag culture system.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.157-164
• /
• 2014

Objective of this research was to develop root media containing expanded rice hull (ERH) and carbonized rice hull (CRH). To achieve this, the physico chemical properties of two materials were analysed and blended with peatmoss (PM) or coir dust (CD) with various ratio. Based on the physical properties of the blended materials, 4 root media were selected for future experiment. After the analysis of pH and EC of the selected root media, the kinds and amount of pre-planting nutrient charge fertilizers (PNCF) incorporated into each root medium were varied, and then, final chemical properties of the root media were analysed. The total porosity (TP), container capacity (CC), and air-filled porosity (AFP) were 81.3%. 39.9%, and 41.4% in ERH and 77.6%, 64.1%, and 13.5% in CRH, respectively. The percentage of easily available water (EAW, from CC to 4.90 kPa tension) and buffering water (BW, 4.91-9.81 kPa tension) were 11.37% and 5.27%, in ERH and 17.26% and 14.28% in CRH, respectively. The pH of ERH was 7.1, but it was extremely high in CRH such as 11.2. The EC and CEC were $1.31dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ and $12.1meq{\cdot}100g^{-1}$ in ERH and $6.53dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ and CEC 7.79 $meq{\cdot}100g^{-1}$ in CRH, respectively. The ranges of TP, CC and AFP in 4 selected media (PM + ERH, 6:4, v/v; CD + ERH, 8:2; PM + CRH, 7:3; CD+CRH 6:4) were 89.2-90.3%, 67.3-81.8%, and 8.3-21.9%, respectively. The pHs and ECs in root media containing peatmoss such as PM + ERH (6:4) and PM + CRH (7:3) were 4.0-4.3 and $0.33-0.365dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$, whereas those of CD + CRH were 7.4-7.9 and $1.282dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$. The pHs and ECs, however, analysed before and after the incorporation of PNCF in each root medium were not significant different. This result indicated that the incorporated fertilizers in PNCF to adjust medium pH did not dissolve enough to influence medium pH, but it is very normal in root media containing dolomitic lime and sulfur powder in adjusting pH. The Information obtained in this study may facilitate an effective formulation of root media containing rice hulls.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.362-371
• /
• 2012

Objective of this research was to secure the information on physical and chemical properties of peatmoss and coir dust. To achieve this, 6 kinds of peatmoss and 10 kinds of coir dust currently used in the country as the root medium components in plant factories were collected and analysed. The mean ${\pm}$ standard deviation (SD) of total porosity and container capacity in peatmoss and coir dust were $79.6{\pm}5.04$ and $83.6{\pm}6.18%$, and $69.9{\pm}10.17$ and $65.9{\pm}3.46%$, respectively. These indicate that peatmoss has higher water holding capacity than coir dust and the characteristics are highly varied among peatmoss. The 4 out of 5 kinds of peatmoss had lower than 10%, but coir dust had 12~26%, of air-filled porosity. The percentage of easily available water and buffering water in peatmoss and coir dust was 18~22 and 11~16% and 9~13 and 5.5~7.5%, respectively. These results indicate that precise irrigation is required when coir dust is used as the root medium. The ranges of pH and electrical conductivity (EC) were 3.46~4.17 and $0.137{\sim}0.253dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ in peatmoss and 5.31~6.48 and $0.250{\sim}0.1.580dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ in coir dust. However, $0.563{\pm}0.83dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ in mean ${\pm}$SD of coir dust EC indicates that it is higher than that of peatmoss, and the coir dust are highly varied in EC. The cation exchange capacity of peatmoss was 3 to 4 times as high as that of coir dust. The coir dust had higher $NO_3$ and $PO_4$ and lower $NH_4$ than peatmoss. The K and Na concentrations in coir dust were extremely high indicating that these ions caused the rising in EC. The percentage of hot water and alkali extracts of peatmoss were 6.67~16.37 and 0~38%, whereas those of coir dust were 30.0~65.1 and 23.1~70.3%. These results mean that possible existence of growth inhibiting materials in coir dust.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.499-506
• /
• 2014

This research was conducted to develop root media containing ground and aged pine bark (GAPB) and ground and raw pine bark (GRPB). After analysis of physico chemical properties, the pine barks were blended with peat moss (PM) or coir dust (CD) in various ratios to formulate 12 root media. Then, two out of 12 root media were chosen based on the physical properties for further experiments. The pre-planting nutrient charge fertilizers (PNCF) were incorporated into two root media and chemical properties were analysed again. The total porosity (TP), container capacity (CC), and air-filled porosity (AFP) of GAPB were 78.7%. 39.4%, and 38.3%, respectively, while those of GRPB were 74.7%, 41.2%, and 33.4%, respectively. The percentage of easily available water (EAW, from CC to 4.90 kPa tension) and buffering water (BW, 4.91-9.81 kPa tension) in GAPB were 12.7% and 8.5%, respectively, which were a little lower than the 13.5% and 8.8% in GRPB. The pH and EC were not different significantly, but cation exchange capacity was different between the two pine barks (GAPB: pH 5.26, EC $0.61dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$, CEC $15.7meq{\cdot}100g^{-1}$; GRPB: pH 5.19, EC $0.32dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$, CEC $9.32meq{\cdot}100g^{-1}$). The concentrations of exchangeable cations in GAPB were Ca 0.32, K 0.05, Mg 0.27 and $0.12cmol+{\cdot}kg^{-1}$, whereas those in GRPB were Ca 0.28, K 0.08, Mg 0.25 and $0.09cmol+{\cdot}kg^{-1}$. The concentrations of $PO_4$-P, $NH_4$-N and $NO_3$-N were 485.8, 0.62 and $0.91mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ in GAPB and 578, 1.00 and $0.82mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ in GRPB, respectively, when those were analyzed in the solution of the saturated paste. The TP, CC and AFP in the two selected media were 89.3 and 76.3, and 13.0% in PM+GAPB (8:2, v/v) and 88.2, 68.2 and 20.0% in CD+GRPB (8:2), respectively. The pHs and ECs were 3.8 and $0.24dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ in PM+GAPB which were a little lower than 5.8 and $0.65dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ in CD+GRPB. However, the pHs analysed before and after incorporation of PNCF in the two root media did not show large differences. This is because the solubility of dolomitic lime is very low, and the pH it is expected to rise gradually when crops are cultivated int he root media. The information obtained in this study should facilitate effective formulation of root media containing pine bark.