Preface

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.

Soilless culture can be defined as an advanced production technique in which plant cultivation is carried out using different solid or liquid media other than soil, in the root zone of the plant nutrients and water required for the development of plants. The soilless culture model aims to provide the most appropriate balance of air, water, and nutrients in the root zone in an artificial environment, as well as physical support for plants.

There are many reasons for the emergence of soilless culture. The most important ones are the increasing population and land-related problems. It is estimated that the world population, which is 6.5 billion today, will reach 9 billion in 2050 and will need 60–70 percent more food. In many countries, the lands that can be opened to agriculture have reached their last limit. It is increasingly common to move soils out of agriculture for reasons such as erosion, aridity, and settlement. Soilless culture has emerged as an important alternative, especially in countries with insufficient soil and water resources, to eliminate foreign dependency in terms of food, to meet the food needs of the increasing population in general, and to obtain greater yields in terms of water and fertilizers. The prohibition of methyl bromide, which has been widely used in the fight against soil-borne diseases and nematodes in recent years, has been effective in the spread of soilless culture.

Soilless agriculture can be performed in controlled environments to address many of the concerns we now have. That is why it is expected to be the future method of farming in many parts of the world. It helps in the intensive production of crops under full or partially controlled conditions. It guarantees flexibility and intensification of crop production systems in areas with adverse growing conditions. It also helps with precise control over the supply of water and nutrients. Soilless farming furthermore helps eliminate soil-borne diseases, reduces labor requirements, and increases annual crop yield. Hence, it is becoming very popular in urban and semi-urban areas. In fact, it has become the method of choice for places where there are abundant and frequent soil-borne diseases. At present, it has been widely used to produce different vegetables.

This book provides an update on the sources, production, and applications of soilless agriculture and highlights their importance in terms of sustainable agriculture, biodiversity, and the environment. It presents reliable, complete, and up-to-date information on soil history, industry, and production. It also addresses soilless culture types in the world, plant nutrition and fertilizer use activities, plant diseases and protection techniques, carbon and water footprint, organic cultivation in soilless agriculture, connection of management with smart agricultural tools, and evaluation of economic aspects of soilless culture.

> **Metin Turan and Sanem Argin** Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey

> > **Ertan Yildirim** Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey

**Adem Güneş** Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey

**1**

**1. Introduction**

**Chapter 1**

*and Melike Ada*

**Abstract**

The Effects of Different Substrates

Fertilizer Applications on Vitamins,

Grape Berries from Soilless Culture

*Serpil Tangolar, Semih Tangolar, Metin Turan, Mikail Atalan* 

Due to its advantages, soilless cultivation has been used for both early- and latematuring grape varieties. High nutritional and energy value is one of the strongest features that make the grape an effective component of agriculture and the human diet. Therefore, it was thought that it would be useful to determine the nutrient content of the berries in a soilless culture study carried out on the Early Cardinal grape variety. One-year-old vines were trained to a guyot system and grown in 32-liter plastic pots containing four different solid growing media, namely, zeolite, cocopeat, and zeolite+cocopeat (Z + C) (1:1 and 1:2, v:v). A total of three different nutrient solutions (Hoagland, Hoagland A (adapted to the vine) and organic liquid worm fertilizer (OLWF)) were applied to the plants. Grapevines were given different solutions starting from the bud burst. Z + C (1:1) substrate mixture giving the highest values of 14 amino acids, vitamins, and most macro- and microelements. Hoagland and Modified Hoagland nutrient solutions mostly gave higher values than OLWF for the properties studied. In general, it was observed that there were no significant losses in terms of mineral, vitamin, and amino acid composition in soilless grape cultivation.

**Keywords:** grapevine, phytochemicals, fertilization, vermicompost, zeolite, cocopeat

Grapes (*Vitis vinifera* L.) are the most produced fruit in the world. The total grape area and its production globally are 7.4 million ha and 77.8 million tons, respectively, in 2018 [1]. About 36% of the total is consumed for fresh, 7% for dried, and 57% for winemaking. Five countries represent 50% of the world's vineyards. Turkey is in the fifth position in vineyard areas in the world in 2018 with a total surface of 448,000 ha, after Spain, China, France, and Italy. It is the sixth in total grape

Mineral, and Amino Acid Content of

with Chemical and Organic
