OPTIMISATION OF LAWSONIA INERMIS L. AND INDIGOFERA ARTICULATA GOUAN. NUTRIENT SOLUTION IN OPEN-AIR HYDROPONICS

Research was carried out to determine the effect of major nutrients, e.g., Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K) ratio on the leaf productivity and the leaf dye content of Henna (Lawsonia inermis L.) and Indigo (Indigofera articulata Gouan.). Trials were conducted under open-air soilless conditions and the mathematical relationships between these parameters were described by the regression equations:

for Henna	for indigo
Y=4.54-0.037X; r=0.03(1)	Y=0.52-0.0005X; r=0.0005(2)
Y=3.82-0.028X; r=0.028(3)	Y=1.24-0.011X; r=0.11(4)

where Y (1,2) is the leaf productivity of plant (g/plant), Y (3,4) is the dye content in leaves (%), X is the difference between experimental N:P:K: and the optimal N:P:K: for each index of each plant (atom %). When X=0, experimental ratio us optimal and maximal leaf productivity for henna and indigo are 4.54 and 0.52 g/plant respectively, while the highest content of dye in leaves are 3.82 and 1.24% respectively.

When N,P,K, ratio in nutrient solution declines from the optimal one on 1 atom % (X=1), the leaf productivity anf dye content decreased by 0.037 g/plant and 0.028% for Henna and 0.005 g/plant and 0.011% for Indigo.

For N,P,K, ratio in nutrient solution the following data were obtained for Henna and Indigo respectively: 36:28:36, 43:23:34 atom% for leaf productivity and 37:33:30, 25:33:42 atom% for dye content in leaves.

International Symposium on Growing Media and Hydroponics

S.K. Mairapetyan, A.H. Tadevosyan

optimisation, Henna, Indigo, soilless culture, N:P:K ratio

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1999.481.36