Establishment and verification of prediction models for evaluating the physical and chemical properties of soilless substrates
Keywords:
prediction model, mixed substrate, physical and chemical properties, multiple regressions, genetic algorithmAbstract
In soilless culture, a suitable mixed substrate that provides a balanced and stable rhizosphere environment is vital for promoting plant growth. The present study was undertaken to establish seven prediction models of physical and chemical properties, including bulk density (DB), total porosity (TP), water-holding porosity (WHP), air porosity (AP), WHP/AP, electrical conductivity (EC) and cation exchange capacity (CEC) of mixed substrate based on regression equations of measured values from 76 substrate combinations. These seven models were verified using the measured values of 12 mixed substrates, and the average relative prediction errors (REs) were all less than 10%. A comprehensive property prediction model was established by weighted summation of the seven models of physical and chemical properties. According to the set values of DB, TP, WHP, AP, WHP/AP, EC and CEC, the comprehensive property model predicted the six mixture proportions of mixed-substrate, as verified using the measured values. This study is the first to establish prediction models for the physical and chemical properties of mixed substrates. The comprehensive property model could be used to evaluate the physical and chemical properties of commercial mixed substrates, and to provide the optimal mixture substrate formulations according to the setting property value of production requirement. Keywords: prediction model, mixed substrate, physical and chemical properties, multiple regressions, genetic algorithm DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20211402.5815 Citation: Gong B B, Wang N, Zhang T J, Li S, Wu X L, Tian J, et al. Establishment and verification of prediction models for evaluating the physical and chemical properties of soilless substrates. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2021; 14(2): 9–18.References
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[37] Ren Z Y, Liu Y L. Effects of different coir dust to perlite ratio substrate on growth and seedling raising effect of tomato seedling. Tianjin Agricultural Science, 2018; 5: 63–66. (in Chinese)
[38] Yang F, Tao G X, Sun Z H. Effects of different substrate composition on Capsicum frutescens L. var. shuanlaense seedlings. Anhui Agricultural Science, 2018; 28: 56–59. (in Chinese)
[39] Ozturk I, Karaman S, Baslar M, Cam M, Caliskan O, Sagdic O, et al. Aroma: sugar and anthocyanin profile of fruit and seed of mahlab (Prunus mahaleb L.): optimization of bioactive compounds extraction by simplex lattice mixture design. Food Anal. Methods, 2014; 7: 761–773.
[40] Meinhart A D, da Silveira T F F, de Moraes M R, Petrarca M H, Silva L H, Oliveira W S, et al. Optimization of frying oil composition rich in essential fatty acids by mixture design. LWT-Food Sci. Technol., 2017; 84: 795–803.
[41] Baj T, Baryluk A, Sieniawska E. Application of mixture design for optimum antioxidant activity of mixtures of essential oils from, Ocimum basilicum, L., Origanum majorana L. and Rosmarinus officinalis, L. Industrial Crops and Products, 2018; 115: 52–61.
[42] Thangadurai K, Padmavathi K. Citrus canker disease detection using genetic algorithm in citrus plants. International Journal of Trend in Research and Development, 2015; 2(5): 434–437.
[43] Mansini R, Ogryczak W, Speranza M G. Twenty years of linear programming based portfolio optimization. European Journal of Operational Research, 2014; 234(2): 518–535.
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[2] Deepagoda T K K C, Lopez J C C. Integral parameters for characterizing water, energy, and aeration properties of soilless plant growth media. Journal of Hydrology, 2013; 502: 120–127.
[3] Schmilewski G. Growing media constituents in the EU. Acta Hortic, 2009; 819: 33–45.
[4] Belda R M, Lidón A, Fornes F. Biochars and hydrochars as substrate constituents for soilless growth of myrtle and mastic. Industrial Crops and Products, 2016; 94: 132–142.
[5] Bilderback T E, Warren S L, Owen Jr J S, Albano J P. Healthy substrates need physicals too! Hort Technology, 2005; 15: 747–751.
[6] Nelson P V. Greenhouse Operation & Management, 7th ed. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2011; pp. 607.
[7] Vaughn S F, Kenar J A, Thompson A R. Comparison of biochars derived from wood pellets and pelletized wheat straw as replacements for peat in potting substrates. Industrial Crops and Products, 2013; 51: 437–443.
[8] Meng X M. Problems and counter measures of matrix industry in China. Chinese vegetables, 2017; 8: 16–20. (in Chinese)
[9] Wisdom B, Nyembezi M, Agathar K. Effect of different vermiculite and pine bark media substrates mixtures on physical properties and spiral rooting of radish (Raphanus sativus L.) in float tray system. Rhizosphere, 2017; 3: 67–74.
[10] Mazarura U. Exploring the influence of coal rubble and pine bark substrate mixes on germination, spiral rooting, substrate chemical and physical properties: Using tobacco as test crop. Asian Journal of Agriculture &Rural Development, 2013; 3: 115–126.
[11] Álvarez, José M, Claudio P, Rattan L. Morpho-physiological plant quality when biochar and vermicompost are used as growing media replacement in urban horticulture. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 2018; 34: 175–180.
[12] Kuisma E, Palonen P, Yli-Halla M. Reed canary grass straw as a substrate in soilless cultivation of strawberry. Scientia Horticulturae, 2014; 178: 217–223.
[13] Lei W S, Ding Y F, Li G H. Effects of soilless substrates on seedling quality and the growth of transplanted super japonica rice. Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 2017; 16: 1053–1063.
[14] Belda R M, Lidón A, Fornes F. Biochars and hydrochars as substrate constituents for soilless growth of myrtle and mastic. Industrial Crops and Products, 2016; 94: 132–142.
[15] Palencia P, Bordonaba J G, Martínez F. Investigating the effect of different soilless substrates on strawberry productivity and fruit composition. Scientia Horticulturae, 2016; 203: 12–19.
[16] Fátima M, Castillo S, Borrero C. Effect of different soilless growing systems on the biological properties of growth media in strawberry. Scientia Horticulturae, 2013; 150: 59–64.
[17] Vaughn S F, Eller F J, Evangelista R L. Evaluation of biochar-anaerobic potato digestate mixtures as renewable components of horticultural potting media. Industrial Crops and Products, 2015; 65: 467–471.
[18] Huanga L, Genhua N. Evaluation of a hardwood biochar and two composts mixes as replacements for a peat-based commercial substrate. Industrial Crops and Products, 2019; 129: 549–560.
[19] Depardieu C. High productivity of soilless strawberry cultivation under rain shelters. Scientia Horticulturae, 2018; 232: 127–138.
[20] Vandecasteele B, Debode J, Willekens K. Recycling of P and K in circular horticulture through compost application in sustainable growing media for fertigated strawberry cultivation. European Journal of Agronomy, 2018; 96: 131–145.
[21] Bouchaaba Z, Santamaria P, Choukrallah R. Open-cycle drip vs closed-cycle subirrigation: Effects on growth and yield of greenhouse soilless green bean. Scientia Horticulturae, 2015; 182: 77–85.
[22] Rubio A J S, Franch V, López F. Towards a near-soilless culture for woody perennial crops in open field conditions. Scientia Horticulturae, 2018; 240: 460–467.
[23] Maldonado A J, Mendoza A B, Romenus K D A. Estimation of the water requirements of greenhouse tomato crop using multiple regression models. Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture, 2014; 10: 885–897.
[24] Norrie J, Graham M E D, Gosselin A. Potential evapotranspiration as a means of predicting irrigation timing in greenhouse tomatoes grown in peat bags. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science, 1994; 119: 163–168.
[25] Ta T H, Shin J H, Ahn T I. Modeling of transpiration of paprika (Capsicum annuum, L.) plants based on radiation and leaf area index in soilless culture. Horticulture Environment and Biotechnology, 2011; 3: 265–269.
[26] Wang Y, Wang F, Huang J. Validation of artificial neural network techniques in the estimation of nitrogen concentration in rape using canopy hyperspectral reflectance data. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 2009; 17: 4493–4505.
[27] Hansen P M, Schjoerring J K. Reflectance Measurement of Canopy Biomass and Nitrogen Status in Wheat Crops Using Normalized Difference Vegetation Indices and Partial Least Squares Regression. Remote Sensing of Environment, 2003; 4: 542–553.
[28] Ulissi V. Nitrogen Concentration Estimation in Tomato Leaves by VIS-NIR Non-Destructive Spectroscopy. Sensors, 2011; 6: 6411–6424.
[29] Retamales J B, Mena C, Lobos G. A regression analysis on factors affecting yield of highbush blueberries. Scientia Horticulturae, 2015; 186: 7–14.
[30] Patel D M, Patel N M, Pandya N N. Gastroretentive drug delivery system of carbamazepine: Formulation optimization using simplex lattice design: A technical note. Aaps Pharmscitech, 2007; 1: 82–86.
[31] Karaman S, Yilmaz M T, Kayacier A. Simplex lattice mixture design approach on the rheological behavior of glucomannan based salep-honey drink mixtures: An optimization study based on the sensory properties. Food Hydrocolloids, 2011; 5: 1319–1326.
[32] Webber III C L, Whitworth J, Dole J. Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinum L.) core as a containerized growth medium component. Industrial Crops and Products, 1999; 10: 97–105.
[33] Sparks D L, Page A L, Helmke P A, Leoppert R H, Soltanpour P N, Tabatabai M A, et al. Methods of Soil Analysis. Soil Sci. Soci. Am., Madison, Wisconsin.1996; pp.123–135.
[34] Coelho R F, Bouillard P. Multi-objective reliability-based optimization with stochastic metamodels. Evolutionary Computation, 2011; 4: 525–560.
[35] Deb K. Multi-objective genetic algorithms: problem difficulties and construction of test problems. Evolutionary Computation, 1999; 3: 205–230.
[36] Deb K. A fast and elitist multi-objective genetic algorithm: NSGA-II. IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, 2002; 6: 182–193.
[37] Ren Z Y, Liu Y L. Effects of different coir dust to perlite ratio substrate on growth and seedling raising effect of tomato seedling. Tianjin Agricultural Science, 2018; 5: 63–66. (in Chinese)
[38] Yang F, Tao G X, Sun Z H. Effects of different substrate composition on Capsicum frutescens L. var. shuanlaense seedlings. Anhui Agricultural Science, 2018; 28: 56–59. (in Chinese)
[39] Ozturk I, Karaman S, Baslar M, Cam M, Caliskan O, Sagdic O, et al. Aroma: sugar and anthocyanin profile of fruit and seed of mahlab (Prunus mahaleb L.): optimization of bioactive compounds extraction by simplex lattice mixture design. Food Anal. Methods, 2014; 7: 761–773.
[40] Meinhart A D, da Silveira T F F, de Moraes M R, Petrarca M H, Silva L H, Oliveira W S, et al. Optimization of frying oil composition rich in essential fatty acids by mixture design. LWT-Food Sci. Technol., 2017; 84: 795–803.
[41] Baj T, Baryluk A, Sieniawska E. Application of mixture design for optimum antioxidant activity of mixtures of essential oils from, Ocimum basilicum, L., Origanum majorana L. and Rosmarinus officinalis, L. Industrial Crops and Products, 2018; 115: 52–61.
[42] Thangadurai K, Padmavathi K. Citrus canker disease detection using genetic algorithm in citrus plants. International Journal of Trend in Research and Development, 2015; 2(5): 434–437.
[43] Mansini R, Ogryczak W, Speranza M G. Twenty years of linear programming based portfolio optimization. European Journal of Operational Research, 2014; 234(2): 518–535.
[44] Kanagaraj G, Ponnambalam S G, Jawahar N. A hybrid cuckoo search and genetic algorithm for reliability-redundancy allocation problems. Computers& Industrial Engineering, 2013; 66: 1115–1124.
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2021-04-03
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Gong, B., Wang, N., Zhang, T., Li, S., Wu, X., Tian, J., … Gao, H. (2021). Establishment and verification of prediction models for evaluating the physical and chemical properties of soilless substrates. International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, 14(2), 9–18. Retrieved from https://ijabe.migration.pkpps03.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/ijabe/article/view/5815
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