Growth Performance of Four Varieties of Sweet Basil Grown in a Greenhouse with Both Aquaponic Effluent and Soil.
Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) is a popular culinary herb cultivated under both natural field conditions as well as in greenhouses. Postharvest shelf life of basil is short due to susceptibility to chilling injury. Aquaponics is the combined culture of fish and hydroponic plants in recirculating systems. It is attractive to raise basil in an aquaponics system as the plant can be marketed live with the roots still intact to enhance its shelf life. Since basil varieties have been historically cultured in soil, it is valuable to the industry to determine which varieties perform well in a greenhouse grown either in soil or with aquaponic effluent.
A 47-day growth trial was conducted to track the growth and performance of four varieties of basil: Aroma, Compact Genovese, Nufar and Profuma di Genova. Growth treatments included aquaponic raft, aquaponic tower and soil; 12 plants per variety were grown in each treatment.
Aroma was significantly taller at the end of the experiment (p < 0.001) in all three treatments. Nufar was second tallest in growth followed by Compact Genovese and Profuma di Genova. All four varieties demonstrated significantly higher growth (p < 0.001) in the aquaponics raft treatment (Figure 1). The aquaponic tower treatment had the second highest growth; soil treatments demonstrated the slowest growth in all varieties.
Nufar had the highest leaf biomass at the end of the treatment (Table 1). These results suggest aquaponics systems that utilize raft culture should be used to maximize indoor basil growth. Nufar may be the most attractive variety to raise as it was second tallest in height and had the highest level of leaf biomass.