Recent Research and Advances in Soilless Culture

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) has reported that thirty football fields of soil are lost annually. It takes 1000 years to produce only 3 cm of soil. At present, the soil is the most common media used for growing crops throughout the world, as it provides the support, nutrition, air, and water required for the optimum growth of plants. However, the soil has some serious limitations, mainly in safe food production, due to climate change (temperature, solar intensity, water deficiency, soil pollution, low biodiversity, soil degradation, soil salinity), soil-borne diseases, nematodes, drainage, transport, short life cycle, and other factors. The challenges facing soil-based agriculture have led to the invention of soilless agriculture. A plant does not need soil to grow, but it does need soil to obtain nutrients. Soilless cultivation has become possible through the use of advanced technology. Soilless farming refers to growing a wide range of crops, particularly horticultural crops, in different growing media or substrates other than soil (substrate culture) or in an aerated nutrient solution (water culture). In other words, it includes all systems of plant growth either on porous substrates or on the pure nutrient solution (NS) instead of natural soil. Soilless culture practices worldwide emerged with the idea that existing agricultural land will not meet the food needs of the rapidly increasing population. Soilless culture practices, which have significant advantages over traditional methods of agriculture, are increasing globally.