• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.460-467
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• 2009

This research was conducted for the purpose of investigating the influence substrates addition such as germanium or Granite porphyry gravel have on the growth of foliage, on the inorganic compositions of leaves as well as on root activity, in order to discover effective means of introducing plants to the indoors. Syngonium podophyllum, Dracaena sanderiana, Epipremnum aureum and Hedera helix were used as study subjects to which soil (mixed top-soil: Sunshine Mix No. 2, USA), tap water, tap water with germanium (300g), tap water with Granite porphyry gravel (300g) were added respectively and formulated. Studies on growth variations according to substrates addition indicate that growth of Syngonium podophyllum was most sluggish under tap water only treatment. Plant growth was most active under geranium-gravel treatment. In the case of Dracaena sanderiana, treatment of substrates addition had no meaningful influence on plant growth. However, the growth of Epipremnum aureum and Hedera helix was also shown to be most active under geranium-gravel treatment. Geranium-gravel treatment was shown to be particularly beneficial for root length, number of roots and dry weight. Root activity was analyzed on ten day intervals and there was discernable difference in the root activity of all the plants according to the varying treatments. In the case of the Syngonium podophyllum, the root activity was sluggish in all three types of treatment on the 10th day but improved gradually. On the 30th to the 50th day of the experiment, the root activity was found to be best under the Granite porphyry gravel treatment. In the case of the Dracaena sanderiana, the root activity was most active under the geranium-gravel treatment from the 10th to the 40th day but deteriorated from the 50th day. However, there was no significant different in all three treatments from the 60th day onwards. Analysis of the inorganic components of the leaves indicates that, while Ca and Mg were higher in the geranium than in the Granite porphyry gravel, they do not directly influence the content of inorganic components in the leaves. The results indicate that Epipremnum aureum and Hedera helix grow better under hydro-culture than when grown in soil and growth under hydro-culture is shown to increase when germanium is added to tap water.