抄録
Muskmelons were cultivated with the hydroponics medium (DFT) including selected ion-exchange materials together. Preparation of the culture medium solution was carried out by using the materials such as Ca-artificial zeolite, synthetic zeolite (zeolite synthetic A-3), cation-exchange resin (amberlite IR-120B), anionexchange resin (amberlite IRA-400) and active charcoal. Aliguot amount 120g of each material was add to 12 liter of nutrition solution.
The results of this research show that fresh weight, plant height and root length of muskmelons cultivated with of 120g Ca-artificial zeolite and amberlite IRA-400 in 12 liter of solution were greater than those cultivated with other agents. The cultivation with 120g of zeolite synthetic A-3 and amberlite IR-120B in 12 liter of solution resulted in a restriction on the growth of muskmelons. By adding the ionexchange materials, the pH buffering capacity of the medium increased significantly against both acid and alkcline region. The cation exchange (CEC) capacity of the materials was in the order Amberlite IR-120B (317 meq/100g) > Zeolite synthetic A-3 (262 meq/100g) > Ca-artificial zeolite (235 meq/100g) > Charcoal (141 meq/100 g) >Amberlite IR-120B (1 meq/100g).
Mixing Ca-artificial zeolite with nutrient solution can give the greatest ability to facilitate the growth of muskmelons by, improvement the buffer action for the solution, showing that the zeolite promising as one of important materials in hydroponics.
