2021 年 65 巻 3 号 p. 146-152
Global warming has detrimental effects and causes crop damage. However, high temperatures can be mitigated to a great extent by maintaining the root-zone temperature within a normal range. In a previous paper, a novel strategy, involving a soil-cooling system, was found to achieve this goal by cooling the soil under environmental conditions. Thus, the present study is intended to determine the effect of soil cooling on growth performance and soil chemical properties, focusing on temperate root crops under a tropical climate. Radish was grown in triplicate without the addition of fertilizers and was evaluated for its growth performance in terms of weight (taproot and leaves), length (taproot and leaves), root tail length, and numbers and the area of leaves. The findings showed that radish plants grown in cooled soil presented significant differences in terms of their average weight (taproot and leaves), average length (taproot), leaf area, and length of root tail (p < 0.05). The cooled and uncooled soils showed differences in the contents of macro- and micro-nutrients during their growth. Therefore, the present study demonstrates that the modulation of soil temperature allowed the cultivation of a temperate root crop, and this strategy will be applicable not only in tropical countries but also in temperate ones influenced by climate change in the future.
