Assessment of water use efficiency and fertilizer use efficiency of solar-powered aeroponic system

Global food consumption of the world's expanding population is predicted to increase significantly in the next decades. However, as the world's natural resource base (land, water, and air) is put under greater demand to raise food production, all of the main resources for modern agriculture are becoming less available. Increased food production can be achieved by expanding crop fields and improving cultivation. The hydroponic system is one of today's most advanced crop production methods. A hydroponic system's basic components include nutrient film technique (NFT), deep water culture (DWC), wick hydroponic, flood and drain system, drip hydroponic, and aeroponics. In this study, the solar-powered aeroponic system was compared to the conventional method of cultivating lettuce in terms of water and fertilizer efficiency. Lettuce crop production in aeroponic (5.0 kg m^-2) and traditional systems (1.5 kg m^-2). The water and fertilizer use efficiency of the aeroponic system and traditional approach have been determined to be 67.0 kg m^-3 and 43.8%, respectively, and 6.1 kg m^-3 and 25.3%.