**10. Arka Fermented Cocopeat substrate**

An ideal potting medium for vegetable crops must be well aerated and porous, hold sufficient moisture, have adequate drainage, and must provide adequate nutrients to the plants. Among all substrates, cocopeat is the one that retains moisture, stores, and releases nutrients to roots over an extended period of time for enhancing plant growth. Therefore, it is considered an ideal soilless growing media for vegetable crops. In this connection, the technology for conversion of raw coir pith into fermented cocopeat has been standardized at ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru and released as a product called Arka Fermented Cocopeat (AFC). Arka Fermented Cocopeat is developed by the solid-state fermentation of raw coir pith, by employing a fungal consortium and enriched with the Arka Microbial Consortium comprising of N fixing, P and Zn solubilizing, and plant growth-promoting microbes could be a potential substrate for soilless cultivation of vegetables, flowers, and medicinal crops, etc. Arka Fermented Cocopeat is very popular and used as a growing media in the nursery for raising seedlings of various vegetable crops and rootstocks of different fruit crops. However, it has not been evaluated as a growing media for the cultivation of vegetables under soilless conditions. Therefore, a series of experiments on soilless cultivation of different vegetables were conducted at ICAR-IIHR to study the suitability of Arka Fermented Cocopeat (AFC) as substrate along with commercial cocopeat and soil. The results revealed that the substrate AFC recorded better yield and quality in vegetable crops compared to commercial cocopeat and soil. Arka Fermented cocopeat (AFC) alone or AFC + vermicompost or AFC + vermicompost/FYM/compost are also the best substrate combination for growing vegetable crops under soilless cultivation.

Raw coir pith fermented cocopeat

*Soilless Cultivation to Secure the Vegetable Demand of Urban and Peri-Urban Population DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.102695*

#### **11. Nutrient management in soilless vegetable cultivation**

Seventeen nutrient elements are considered essential for the growth and development of any living plant on the earth. The absence of anyone essential nutrient will make it difficult for the growth of plants and will not allow the plant to complete its life cycle. Further, the role of essential nutrients cannot be played or replaced by any other nutrients. In soilless culture or hydroponics, the nutrients which are considered essential should be supplied in the form of nutrient solution. Mostly C, H, and O are taken by the plants from water and CO2 in the air. Remaining essential nutrients *viz.*, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, Fe, B, Cu, Zn, Mn, Mo, and Cl need to be supplied to the plants by the growers in the form of the nutrient solution prepared from soluble inorganic salts. Most of the growing media used to have a smaller quantity of these mineral nutrients but they should not be taken into account while formulating fertilizer schedule because they are either very little when compared to the requirement of plants or they may not be readily available form to plants. The main route to attain success in the soilless culture of vegetables depends on the ideal management of plant nutrients through the supply of nutrient solutions prepared from soluble inorganic salts. It is also possible to prepare a nutrient solution by buying a ready mix of all essential nutrients. There are several formulations of nutrient solutions available in the literatures. Nevertheless, most of them are empirically based. **Table 3** comprises some of them.

Proper nutrition factors, such as pH level, electrical conductivity (EC), the types of nutrition, the composition of nutrients irrigated, and so on are the key factors to improve the quality and yield of vegetables. Vegetable crops can be grown organically by mixing organic manures, such as FYM, compost (kitchen waste compost, city compost), and vermicompost, with substrate cocopeat @ 1:1:1 ratio which will take care of the nutrient requirement of the plants. Vermicompost @100 g/plant should be applied at monthly intervals. Decomposed kitchen waste can also be applied. ICAR-IIHR standardized


#### **Table 3.**

*Concentration ranges of essential mineral elements according to various authors.*

nutrient solution (Arka Sasya Poshak Ras) may be practiced for meeting the nutrient requirement of the plants under cocopeat-based soilless cultivation. Arka Sasya Poshak Ras is a liquid nutrient formulation (comprising solutions A and B) is a unique blend of the macro and micronutrients which are well balanced to support the growth of vegetables.
