COMPARISON BETWEEN HYDROPONIC AND TRADITIONAL METHOD FOR LETTUCE PRODUCTION

This study's primary goal is to compare the hydroponic system and the conventional soil approach for growing lettuce. The following is a summary of the results obtained: Six weeks after transplanting, the average plant height rose from 17.5 to 40.25 cm in the hydroponic system and from 16 to 35.85 cm in the conventional technique. The average root length increased from 8.25 to 25 cm in hydroponic system and increased from 5 to 10.85 cm in traditional method after 6 weeks from transplanting. The hydroponic system produced the highest fresh mass values of shoots (358 g plant-1), while the traditional approach produced the lowest fresh mass values (315 g plant-1). The hydroponic system produced the maximum fresh mass of roots (58 g plant-1), while the traditional approach produced the lowest fresh mass of roots (52 g plant-1). Compared to the hydroponic system, the traditional method's water consumption values were higher. The findings demonstrated that the hydroponic system used less water than the conventional approach. The hydroponic system's average water use efficiency was 185.83 kg m-3, whereas the traditional method's average water use efficiency was 4.3 kg m-3. In the end, the hydroponic method yielded the fastest growth rates compared to the traditional method.