Production of green hydroponic and geoponic forage of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) in controlled environments

Abstract

The central región of the Bolivian highlands is cattle-raising, in adverse climatic conditions, due to the shortage of food mainly in the winter period, which affects the economy of the producer. The study was carried out in the winter of the Center for Research and Production of Small Animáis (CIPAM) of the Faculty of Agricultural and Natural Sciences of the UTO, with the purpose of evaluating the height and performance of the hydroponic green geoponic feeding versus barley. (Hordeum vulgare L.) of the IBTA-80 variety under controlled environmental conditions. At room temperature it fluctuated from 20 to 26 ° C, the relative humidity between 15.9 and 24.4%. This produces a viability of 85.8±2.2% and is used with a density of 10 kg / m2. The experimental design was the Random Blocks with hydroponic and geoponic treatments. Hydro-ponics production is carried out with water without any nutritional solution, in the case of geoponics if a substrate one centimeter high can be used. In the harvest (10 days) the height of the plant is estimated for hydroponic crops with 23.8 ± 0.31 cm and in geoponic 20.5±0.30 cm; performance also improved in hydroponics (25.1±0.25 kg / m2) compared to geoponics (24.3±0.35 kg / m2), but there is also a correlation (r = 0.6196) between height and performance (p <0.01). The technique of producing hydroponic green fodder changes under adverse climatic conditions as a technical and economical alternative to feed livestock.

Keywords

• feeding livestock
• central bolivian highlands
• shortage of fodder
• production of green fodder
• forage yield.