Soilless culture technology to transform vegetable farming, reduce land pressure and degradation in drylands

Figures & data

Figure 1. The world population (billion) is rapidly increasing and projected to grow for the future; total arable land (billion hectares) is slightly expanded by clearing forests while arable land (ha) per person is sharply declining over the periods (1900–2100) (Anonymous, 2018, 2022; Benke & Tomkins, 2017).

Figure 2. Role of soilless culture in reducing the large demand of field crops’ growth resources (growing time, nutrient or fertilizer, arable land and water) and improving crop yields (t.ha^_1) (Pomoni et al., 2023; Sarkar & Majumder, 2015).

Table 1. Water use efficiency (L kg-1) dry matter production of vegetable crops in soilless and soil-based farming

Crop type	SLC	SBF	Ad	Reference
Hot Pepper	58	110	52	Ahmed et al. (2014)
Lettuce	1.6	76	74.4	Barbosa et al. (2015)
Sweet Pepper	17	121	104	El-Sayed et al. (2015)
Tomato	35	78	43	Massa et al. (2020)
Lettuce	2.7–7.7	189–539	186–531	Michelon et al. (2020)
Spinach	8.3	106	97.7	Van Ginkel et al. (2017)
Average	20.43–21.26	113.6–171.6	92.85–119.34

SLC = with soilless culture, SBF = soil-based farming; Ad = advantage of soilless culture over soil-based farming, and L kg⁻¹ =kilogram∙L⁻¹ of water

Table 2. Estimated yield (t-ha-1) of soilless culture compared to soil-based agriculture of vegetable crops

Crop	SLC	SBF	YAd	Reference
Beet root	22.67	10.2	12.47	Barman et al. (2016)
Beans	17.32	2.47	14.85	Barman et al. (2016)
Cauliflower	37.12	8	29.12	Barman et al. (2016)
Lettuce	410	39	371	Barbosa et al. (2015)
Potato	150	28	122	Barman et al. (2016)
Pepper	133	30	103	El-Sayed et al. (2015)
Tomato	180	7.5	172.5	Khan (2018)
Cabbage	27.5	16.25	11.25	Saha (2021)
Cucumber	525	43.75	481.25	Saha (2021)
Carrot	203	30	173	Yıldız et al. (2018)
Average	168.8	21.5	147.3

SLC= with soilless culture; SBF = soil-based farming and YAd = yield advantage.

Table 3. Economic feasibility of with soilless culture in vegetable crop production in dryland countries

Crop	PC $ha^−1	GB$ ha^−1	Country	Reference
Tomato	184,6751	740,9457	Turkey	Ahmet (2022)
Cucumber	7,615.26	16,190.37	Egypt	Ali (2023)
Tomato	57,910	84,905.8	Spain	Cámara‐Zapata et al. (2019)
Lettuce	2,493.3	3,337.73	Jordan	Ghanayem et al. (2022)
Lettuce	4,900	11,900	Ecuador	Lazo and Gonzabay (2020)
Celery	6,68.85	674	Indonesia	Zaini et al. (2018)
Lettuce	2,170	2,336.9	Indonesia	Zaini et al. (2018)
Mustard	100.17	1,77.22	Indonesia	Zaini et al. (2018)
Average	240,326.07	941,122.33

PC = production cost∙ha⁻¹ in US dollar, GB =, Gross benefit∙ha⁻¹ in US dollars

Figure 3. Percentage of environmental, ecological and social sustainability dimensions of soilless culture (Kalantari et al., 2017).

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Data availability statement

The author confirms that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its supplementary materials.