Watercress as a Medicinal Herb Grown in Ahydroponic System

In this research, synthetic bathing water was created treated by coagulation and mechanical filtration. The waters were qualified before and after treatment, so that the effectiveness of the treatment could be calculated. The greywater produced during the treatment was circulated in a hydroponic tower next to a tapwater control tower. The watercress grown was analyzed in the towers and their results were compared. The results show that the greywater treatment was effective and the watercresses were comfortable in the synthetic bathing water tower without nutrient solution. They grew larger than their counterparts grown in tapwater, and their average moisture content was also higher. Additionally, the spectrophotometric determination of indole-3-carbinol content was investigated in the plants. However, the obtained spectra were noisy, and the absorbance values were too small for reliable evaluation. Our further aim is to improve the determination of active ingredient using other methods (e.g. solid phase extraction).