Nutrients and Growing Media Effect on Growth and Physiological Traits of Pak Choi Plants (Brassica Rapa L.)

The demand for pak choi plants always increases over time.Hydroponics is one technique for the quick cultivation of pak choi.The advantages of hydroponics are its easy setup anywhere that is healthy and clean, requiring minimal areas and still having optimal production.Usually, hydroponics uses AB mix nutrients from various brands on the market.However, this research used NPK 16:16:16 and NASA liquid organic fertilizer to find alternative nutrients to increase the growth and production of pak choi by formulating an effective combination of nutrients and growing media using the nutrient film technique (NFT) system.The research commenced at a greenhouse of the Universitas Teuku Umar, Aceh, Indonesia.The split-plot design employed had nutrients for the main plot, N1 = AB mix Goodplant, N2 = NPK fertilizer 16:16:16, and N3 = NASA liquid organic fertilizer; and the growing media in the subplots, M1 = husk charcoal, M2 = rockwool, M3 = cocopeat, and M4 = sponge.The studied parameters were the plant's fresh and dry weights and chlorophyll a and b.The result showed that nutrition, growing media, and their interaction significantly affected the fresh and dry weights of the pak choi plants.The best combination of nutrients and growing media was AB mix nutrition and cocopeat (N1M3), which showed remarkable performance in increasing the growth and physiological traits of pak choi plants.