• Journal of Korea Society of Waste Management
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.205-213
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• 2017

The current study was performed to investigate the effect of recycling coir substrates on the growth, fruit yield, and quality of strawberry plants. Analysis of physical properties revealed that the pH of a fresh coir substrate was 5.04 while those of substrates reused for one and two years were 5.20 and 5.33, respectively. The electrical conductivity (EC) of a new substrate was as high as $4.58dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$. This can cause salt stress after transplanting. The EC tended to decrease as the substrate was recycled, and the EC of a two-year recycled substrate was $1.48dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$. The fresh substrate had lower nitrogen and calcium concentrations, but higher phosphate, potassium, and sodium concentrations than the recycled coir substrate. The coir substrates recycled for one or two years maintained better chemical properties for plant growth than the fresh substrate. Strawberry growth varied depending on the number of years that the coir substrate was recycled. In general, strawberries grown in substrates that had been reused for two years did better than those grown in substrates that had been reused once or were fresh. Ninety days after transplanting, a plant grown in a substrate that had been reused for two years contained 25 leaves, which was 3.6 more than with a fresh substrate. In addition, the plants grown in a substrate that had been reused for two years exhibited larger leaf areas than those grown in other substrates. Coir substrates that had been reused for one year increased the number and area of leaves, but not as much as the substrate that had been reused for two years. One- and two-year reused coir substrates increased the weight of strawberries produced relative to the unused substrate, but the difference was not statistically significant. The plants grown in two-year reused substrates were longer and wider, as well. Also, the number of fruits per plant was higher when substrates were reused. Specifically, the number of fruits per plant was 28.7 with a two-year reused substrate, but only 22.2 with a fresh substrate. The fruit color indices (as represented by their Hunter L, a, b values) were not considerably affected by recycling of the coir substrate. The Hunter L value, which indicates the brightness of the fruit, did not change significantly when the substrate was recycled. Neither Hunter a (red) nor b (yellow) values were changed by recycling. In addition, there were no significant changes in the hardnesses, acidities, or soluble solid-acid ratios of fruits grown in recycled substrates. Thus, it is thought that recycling the coir substrate does not affect measures of fruit quality such as color, hardness, and sugar content. Overall, reuse of coir substrates from hydroponic culture as high-bed strawberry growth substrates would solve the problems of new substrate costs and the disposal of substrates that had been used once.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.163-169
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• 2022

This study was conducted to examine an alternative cultivating method that uses coir substrates in a hydroponically cultured system. Three treatment conditions were applied with one-layer substrate (10 cm height) with a coir chip and dust ratio of 5:5 (Treatment A), two-layer coir substrate (20 cm height) with a coir chip and dust ratio of 5:5 (Treatment B), one-layer coir substrate (15 cm height) with a coir chip and dust ratio of 7:3 (Treatment C). The control condition was a plastic container filled with a coir chip and dust ratio of 5:5. Various criteria were measured and compared between the treatments and the control. The yield of strawberry was smaller in the control than in the treatments. No significant difference in growth characteristic was found in the height treatments of the coir substrates. The net photosynthetic rate of the treatments was 14.68-15.76 µmol CO₂·m^-2·s^-1. This does not show a statistically significant difference. The root activity was better in treatment B and C than in treatment A and the control. The length and width of leaves were measured as 4.04-4.13 cm and 3.26-3.34 cm. These results are not statistically significant. The leaf length and width ratio was 1.27 in the control and 1.24 in the treatments. The findings show that no statistically significant benefit was found when utilizing coir substrates with different height treatments in the hydroponic culture system. However, the harvested fruit per plant weights 72.38 g in treatment A and 48.69 g in treatment C. The number of harvested fruit was least in treatment C in which a coir chip and dust ratio of 7:3 was applied. Therefore, further research is needed to examine how the chip and dust ratio in coir substrate affects growth characteristics.