What is the method of agriculture that your group choose?


The method of agriculture that our group has chosen is aeroponics. 

The basic principle of aeroponic growing is to grow plants suspended in a closed or semi-closed environment by spraying the plant's dangling roots and lower stem with an atomized, nutrient-rich water solution. The leaves and crown, often called the "canopy", extend above. The roots of the plant are separated by the plant support structure. Many times closed cell foam is compressed around the lower stem and inserted into an opening in the aeroponic chamber, which decreases labor and expense; for larger plants, trellising is used to suspend the weight of vegetation and fruit.

Ideally, the environment is kept free from pests and disease so that the plants may grow healthier and more quickly than plants grown in a medium. However, since most aeroponic environments are not perfectly closed off to the outside, pests and disease may still cause a threat. Controlled environments advance plant development, health, growth, flowering and fruiting for any given plant species and cultivars.

Due to the sensitivity of root systems, aeroponics is often combined with conventional hydroponics, which is used as an emergency "crop saver" – backup nutrition and water supply – if the aeroponic apparatus fails.

A variation of the traditional aeroponics system is air-dynaponics. With this system, developed by professor Gregory Chow Kheong Keat, the nutrient sprayer lifts the nutrient solution, and sprays it onto the “aerial roots” hanging down through an air gap while infusing oxygen into the nutrient solution. Feeder roots thus remain constantly submerged in an oxygen-rich nutrient that provides most of the nutrition and oxygen for the plant.

High-pressure aeroponics is defined as delivering nutrients to the roots via 20–50 micrometre mist heads using a high-pressure (80 pounds per square inch (550 kPa)) diaphragm pump.

Why did we choose aeroponics?


We chose aeroponics because of its ecological advantages, increased air exposure, benefits of oxygen in the root zone, other benefits of air, disease-free cultivation, and its use as a research tool.

Ecological advantages

Aeroponic growing is considered to be safe and ecologically friendly for producing natural, healthy plants and crops. The main ecological advantages of aeroponics are the conservation of water and energy. When compared to hydroponics, aeroponics offers lower water and energy inputs per square meter of growing area. When used commercially, aeroponics uses one-tenth of the water otherwise necessary to grow the crop but this can be reduced to as little as one-twentieth.

Increased air exposure

Air cultures optimize access to air for successful plant growth. Materials and devices which hold and support the aeroponic grown plants must be devoid of disease or pathogens. A distinction of a true aeroponic culture and apparatus is that it provides plant support features that are monomial. Monomial contact between a plant and support structure allows for 100% of the plant to be entirely in air. Long-term aeroponic cultivation requires the root systems to be free of constraints surrounding the stem and root systems. Physical contact is minimized so that it does not hinder natural growth and root expansion or access to pure water, air exchange and disease-free conditions.

Benefits of oxygen in the root zone

Oxygen in the rhizosphere (root zone) is necessary for healthy plant growth. As aeroponics is conducted in air combined with micro-droplets of water, almost any plant can grow to maturity in air with a plentiful supply of oxygen, water and nutrients.

Some growers favor aeroponic systems over other methods of hydroponics because the increased aeration of nutrient solution delivers more oxygen to plant roots, stimulating growth and helping to prevent pathogen formation.

Clean air supplies oxygen which is an excellent purifier for plants and the aeroponic environment. For natural growth to occur the plant must have unrestricted access to air. Plants must be allowed to grow in a natural manner for successful physiological development. The more confining the plant support becomes the greater incidence of increasing disease pressure of the plant and the aeroponic system.

Other benefits of air (CO2)

Plants in a true aeroponic apparatus have 100% access to the CO2 concentrations ranging from 450 ppm to 780 ppm for photosynthesis. At one mile (1.6 km) above sea level the CO2 concentration in the air is 450 ppm during daylight. At night the CO2 level will rise to 780 ppm. Lower elevations will have higher levels. In any case, the air culture apparatus offers ability for plants to have full access to all the available CO2 in the air for photosynthesis.

Growing under lights during the evening allows aeroponics to benefit from the natural occurrence.

Disease-free cultivation

Aeroponics can limit disease transmission since plant-to-plant contact is reduced and each spray pulse can be sterile. In the case of soil, aggregate, or other media, disease can spread throughout the growth media, infecting many plants. In most greenhouses these solid media require sterilization after each crop and, in many cases; they are simply discarded and replaced with fresh, sterile media.

A distinct advantage of aeroponic technology is that if a particular plant does become diseased, it can be quickly removed from the plant support structure without disrupting or infecting the other plants.

Due to the disease-free environment that is unique to aeroponics, many plants can grow at higher density (plants per sq meter) when compared to more traditional forms of cultivation (hydroponics, soil and NFT). Commercial aeroponic systems incorporate hardware features that accommodate the crops expanding root systems.

The isolating nature of the aeroponic system allowed them to avoid the complications encountered when studying these infections in soil culture.

As a research tool

Soon after its development, aeroponics took hold as a valuable research tool. Aeroponics offered researchers a noninvasive way to examine roots under development. This new technology also allowed researchers a larger number and a wider range of experimental parameters to use in their work.

The ability to precisely control the root zone moisture levels and the amount of water delivered makes aeroponics ideally suited for the study of water stress. K. Hubick evaluated aeroponics as a means to produce consistent, minimally water-stressed plants for use in drought or flood physiology experiments.

Aeroponics is the ideal tool for the study of root morphology. The absence of aggregates offers researchers easy access to the entire, intact root structure without the damage that can be caused by removal of roots from soils or aggregates. It’s been noted that aeroponics produces more normal root systems than hydroponics.

How would this benefit Singapore?

Aeroponic processes are rare and thus should attract tourists to view this process. The corn suits Singapore’s humidity almost perfectly and could also be made into various food products like the favourite movie treat; popcorn. Aeroponics, having countless benefits, would also boost the nutritional value of the corn, thus not only making a profit, but also providing Singaporeans with a healthier choice.