The Effect of Varying Amount of Hydroponic Solutions to the Growth of Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) Plant in a Controlled Hydroponics System

Researchers:

Christian C. Chua

Research Adviser:

Mrs. Ma. Regaele A. Olarte

Conceptual Framework

The Experimentation and Set-ups of a Controlled Hydroponics System Using Different Amounts of Hydroponic Solution and Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) Plant

  

Discussion

The hydroponics system designed by the researcher was adopted from the design of the Institute of Plant Breeding CSC-CA, University of the Philippines Los Baños. The cycle of the system is very easy to understand because the plants will be using the nutrients of the solution until they reach their full growth. The system is a labor free and self maintaining system because one can leave the system without monitoring it.

A summary of four set-ups is seen on the results. The tables, graphs and statistical analyses were presented to show if there was a significant difference in the growth of Lactuca Sativa (Lettuce) plant in the experimental and controlled hydroponics set-up. This was measured in terms of height of the plants in centimeters. The first set-up which was the controlled set-up showed how the plant normally grows when planted traditionally (planted on the soil) while the other three set-up showed the use of the controlled hydroponics solution with different amounts of solutions.

As what was expected by the researcher, the plants normally grew on the controlled set-up. Set-up A with 12.5 ml of solution didn’t satisfy the needed nutrients of the plants so as a result, the plants died on the 3^rd week of the experiment. The other two set-ups, set-up B and set-up C with 25ml and 50ml of solutions respectively satisfy the needed nutrients of the plants so the plants grew normally just like on the controlled set-up.

The researcher used unpaired, two sample t-test to determine if there was a significant difference between the growth of lettuce (Lactuca sativa) planted on soil and on the controlled hydroponics system in terms of height in centimeters. Since the statistical units underlying the two samples being compared were non-overlapping. Based on the results of the statistical method used by the researcher, the researcher proved that there is no significant difference between using the controlled hydroponics system and the traditional planting method in yielding Lactuca Sativa (Lettuce) plant.

      The results of the experiment showed that 25ml and 50ml amount of solutions are applicable in growing Lactuca Sativa (Lettuce) plant.