Production of Radish (Raphanus sativus L.) in Nigeria Using the Hydroponics System

Abstract

Radish (Raphanus sativus L.) is an exotic vegetable cultivated in the temperate regions of the World. Hence tropical countries have to rely on importation to consume them. However, little or no attempt has been made to domesticate this crop in tropical regions of the World. But the acclimatization of this vegetable will require growing them in a controlled system for easy study. This study therefore involves the cultivation of three different varieties of radish in the hydroponics system during the rainy and dry seasons in Nigeria. The seeds of three varieties were grown in a hydroponics system with cocopeat and a mixture of cocopeat and sandy soil (50:50 ratio) and fertigated with 100 ml of liquefied poultry manure (1 mg/ml concentration) every 7 days and watering was done every 3 days till harvest. It was a factorial experiment laid in a completely randomized design with 3 replicates. At bi-weekly interval, data were taken on the number of leaves, plant height, leaf area, while at harvest; the fresh tuber weight and fresh leaf weight were collected. Data collected were analyzed using ANOVA and differences in the treatment means were separated using least significant differences (LSD) at 5 % level of significance. Results obtained showed the agronomic performance and the fresh leaf weight of the varieties were same, but the fresh tuber weight of White Icicle Radish (WIR) (23.32±0.24) was significantly higher than both Cherry Berry Radish (CBR) (15.32±0.24) and Cherry Red Radish (CRR) (14.17±0.24) varieties. Also the tuber weight of the varieties in the rainy season (23.03±1.83) was significantly higher than the dry season (12.18±1.83), while both the tuber weight (22.59±1.83) and leaf weight (33.94±2.39) of the cocopeat substrate was significantly higher than the equal mixture of cocopeat and sharp sand in a ratio of 50:50.