EFFECTS OF PLANTING MATERIALS ON THE GROWTH OF DOU-MIAO MICROGREEN

Abstract

The objectives of this experiment were to study the effect of planting materials on seed germination, growth and yield quality of microgreen Dou-Miao. The experiment was conducted at a cash crop greenhouse, Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Valaya Alongkorn Rajabhat University under Royal Patronage. Four completely randomized treatments were designed: 1) soil : rice husks ash, ratio 1 : 1, 2) soil : coconut coir, ratio 1 : 1, 3) soil : rice husks ash : coconut coir, ratio 1 : 1 : 1 and 4) soil. The microgreens were cultivated for 10 days. From the experimental results, it was found that treatment 1: soil : rice husks ash resulted in germination index of 45.22 and plant height of 10.27 centimeters per plant which were significantly higher than other treatments. Moreover, the germination percentage and plant fresh weight were higher than other treatments in that 54.00 % and 2.23 grams per plant, respectively. In case of treatment 2: soil : coconut coir, resulted in root fresh weight of 0.56 grams per plant, root length of 13.79 centimeters per plant and the sugar content was 0.0354 °Brix per plant which is higher than other treatments. For treatment 4: soil, resulted in the highest fiber content of 2.06 % FW. While treatment 3: soil : rice husk ash : coconut coir, overall result showed that the microgreen Dou-Miao has the lowest seed germination, seedling growth and quality, comparing with other treatments. From the research results, it can be used as information for adapting Dou-Miao planting materials to be mixed with soil and rice husk ash to produce fast-growing microgreen, plump stem, good weight, sweet taste, and are popular with consumers both for household consumption or selling, especially the health-loving group. Dou-Miao microgreen is a vegetable with high nutritional value, clean and free from harmful chemicals.