AEROPONICS

Kadhambinidevi K, Divya Bharathi M

MBA DEPARTMENT, CK COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND
TECHNOLOGY, CUDDALORE-607003
21cket0010@ckcet.ac.in
21cket0430@ckcet.ac.in
Abstract— Aeroponics is the process of growing plants in In 1986, Stoner was the first person ever to market
an air or mist environment without the use of soil or an fresh aeroponically grown food to a national grocery
aggregate medium (known as geoponics). The word chain. He was interviewed on NPR and discussed the
"aeroponic" is derived from the Greek meanings of aero-
importance of the water conservation features of
(air) and ponos (labour). Aeroponic culture differs from
both conventional hydroponics, aquaponics, and in-
aeroponics for both modern agriculture and space.[10]
vitro (plant tissue culture) growing. Unlike hydroponics, Stoner is considered the father of commercial
which uses a liquid nutrient solution as a growing aeroponics. Stoner's aeroponic systems are in major
medium and essential minerals to sustain plant growth; or
developed countries around the world. His aeroponic
aquaponics which uses water and fish waste, aeroponics is
conducted without a growing medium. [1][ Because water is designs, technology and equipment are widely used at
used in aeroponics to transmit nutrients, it is sometimes leading agricultural universities worldwide and by
considered a type of hydroponics. This aeroponics method commercial growers
is mainly used in aerospace to grow plants in space. By
using this we can also reduce the use of pesticide. This
“Aeroponic Greenhouse as an Autonomous System
method is more effective because it is at low cost and it using Intelligent Space for Agriculture Robotics” [7]
requires only less space. deals with providing outline evidence about reformist
techniques and approaches for producing green food
with contemplation for ecological aspects and energy
Keywords— hydroponics, low cost and less space, efficacy.
pesticide reduction, in-vitro, mist environment
A.Objective of the study
I.INTRODUCTION
The prevailing world population [2] of 7.2 billion
Aeroponics is the process of growing plants in an is predictable to increase by nearly one billion
air or mist environment without the use of soil or an individuals in the following twelve years, reaching 8.1
aggregate medium (known as geoponics). In nature, in billion in 2025 and 9.6 billion in 2050, conferring to a
tropical climates orchids develop and grow freely in trees.[5] It new United Nations report. As the world population
was W. Carter in 1942 who first researched air culture
remains to grow, the intensifying mandate for
growing and described a method of growing plants in water
vapor to facilitate examination of roots. [9] As of 2006, agricultural production is momentous. More than half
aeroponics is used in agriculture around the globe.[10] of global inhabitants‟ growth between now and 2050
is expected to occur in Africa. According to the UN‟s
Therefore, aeroponics in whole suggests growing of medium-variant projection, the population of Africa
plants in air. The plant is suspended in air using could expand more than double by mid-century,
aeroponic system i.e. the roots are open and are in increasing from 1.1 billion today to 2.4 billion in
direct contact of air. Aeroponics culture varies from 2050, and potentially reaching 4.2 billion by 2100.
both the conformist hydroponics and aquaponics. High population numbers are putting further strain on
Unlike hydroponics and aquaponics which utilizes natural resources, fuel supplies, employment, housing
water for their growth, aeroponics does not require and food supplies. In addition, an increased demand
water as the key requirement. Instead, it requires the for biofuels could further increase pressure on inputs,
aeroponics roots to be sprayed with nutrient solution. prices of agricultural produce, land, and water and
Plants which grow in soil are at a risk of improper endanger a global food security. This survey gives
growth. These plants largely depend upon the weather overview information about progressive techniques
condition of the environment in which they are and methods for producing green food with
growing. The use of pesticides and fertilizers’ increases consideration for environmental factors and energy
since weed formation and pest attacks are common efficiency. The main idea behind the aeroponic
issues which in turn affects the quality of the soil by greenhouse in intelligent space is full automation,
depleting the nutrients present in it. Space is one scalability, anytime-anyplace access monitoring and
criterion for proper growth of plants. Many soil- fault diagnostics for home or enterprise farming.
dependent plants die due to insufficient space and
overcrowding of plants due to lack of apt space.
Talking about the land space, plants need fertile soil for
A. Comparative study
their growth and not just any soil, bringing in another
In Geoponics or Conventional farming, plants are
criterion. Due to these aforementioned shortcomings of
grown in soil with irrigation and active application of
soil as a medium of plantation we have moved to new
nutrients. In Hydroponics, plants are grown in certain
techniques of plantation among which Aeroponics is
medium containing added nutrients without soil.
the best solution. The paper discusses various methods
Aeroponics is a subgroup of Hydroponics except for
of plant cultivation and a brief comparison between
the fact that it does not use any growing medium at
them.
all with nutrient rich solution provided to it at regular
II. LITERATURE REVIEW intervals. Growing plants by conventional agriculture
method include the high and inefficient use of water,
In 1944, L.J. Klotz was the first to discover vapor large land requirements, high concentrations of
misted citrus plants in facilitated research of his studies nutrient consumption, soil degradation and marginal
of diseases of citrus and avocado roots. In 1952, G.F. returns [10, 11]. The knowledge about water and
Trowel grew apple trees in a spray culture.[5] nutrient uptake by plants is crucial for developing
It was F. W. Went in 1957 who first coined the air- control strategies which increase the possibility to
growing process as “aeroponics”, growing coffee plants supply the required amounts of water and nutrients
and tomatoes with air-suspended roots and applying a for maximum crop growth and development [12].
nutrient mist to the root section.[5] Application of technology to agriculture results in
 higher efficiency with optimal use of resource. In
Hydroponics and Aeroponics no nutrients are
released into environment therefore possibility of
nutrient pollution is made obsolete. Hydroponics uses
only 10% of water resources when compared to
conventional method of agriculture while Aeroponics
reduces fertilizer consumption by 60%, the water
consumption by 98% and pesticide by 100% while Fig: 3 NASA aeroponic lettuce seed germination (close-up of
maximizing crop yields. In addition to this, plants root zone environment)- Day 19
grown in Aeroponics can be easily transplanted
compared to that of Hydroponics as they do not
suffer transplantation shock [13].

III. APPLICATIONS OF AEROPONICS

A. Space plants
NASA life support GAP technology with untreated
beans (left tube) and biocontrol treated beans (right
tube) returned from the Mir space station aboard the
space shuttle – September 1997 Fig:4 NASA aeroponic lettuce seed germination. Day 30.
C. NASA inflatable aeroponics:
Plants were first taken into Earth's orbit in
1960 on two separate missions, Sputnik 4 and Discover In 1999, Stoner, funded by NASA, developed an
17(for a review of the first 30 years of plant growth in inflatable low-mass aeroponic system (AIS) for space
and earth for high performance food production.
space, see Halstead and Scott 1990). [16] On the former
mission, wheat, pea, maize, spring onion, and Nigella Aeroponics International’s (AI’s) innovation is a self-
damascena seeds were carried into space, and on the contained, self-supporting, inflatable aeroponic crop
latter mission Chlorella pyrenoidosa cells were brought production unit with integral environmental systems for
the control and delivery of a nutrient/mist to the roots.
into orbit.[10] .
D. Biocontrol’s in space
B. Mission to Mars
NASA's long-range plans indicate that a human In 1996, NASA sponsored Stoner’s research
for a natural liquid biocontrol, known then as ODC
visit to Mars will need to utilize inflatable structures
(organic disease control), that activates plants to grow
to house the spaceship crew on the Mars surface. without the need for pesticides as a means to control
Planning is under way to incorporate inflatable pathogens in a closed-loop culture system. ODC is
greenhouse facilities for food production. derived from natural aquatic materials.
NASA planning scenarios also reveal the Mars E. More user-friendly
surface crew will spend 60% of their time on Mars The design of an aeroponic system allows ease of
farming to sustain themselves. Aeroponics is working with the plants. This results from the
considered the agricultural system of choice because separation of the plants from each other, and the fact
of its low water and power inputs and high volume of that the plants are suspended in air and the roots are
food output per unit area. not entrapped in any kind of matrix. Consequently,
the harvesting of individual plants is quite simple and
straightforward. Likewise, removal of any plant that
may be infected with some type of pathogen is easily
GERMINATION OF LETTUCE SEED accomplished without risk of uprooting or
contaminating nearby plants.
F. Working:
Aeroponic system is an endless process in a confined
space and therefore it cuts down agricultural labour.
Aeroponics are based on the possibility of cultivating
vegetables whose roots are not inserted in a
substratum (the case with hydroponics) or soil, but in
containers filled with flowing plant nutrition. The
basic principle of aeroponic growing is to grow plants
Fig:1 NASA aeroponic lettuce seed germination- Day 3 suspended in a closed or semi-closed environment by
spraying the plant’s dangling roots and lower stem
with an atomized or sprayed, nutrient-rich water
solution.

IV. CONCULSION
The use of aeroponics technology has he improved a lot
from our early generation to present generation. This
shows that the aeroponic method has no major
Fig:2 NASA aeroponic lettuce seed germination- Day 12 disadvantage. The use of aeroponics helps us to grow
the plants in a small area without much use of water
and also without disturbing its nutrient value. By using
this method, we can also create house garden.
Nevertheless, when grown in Aeroponic condition,
since the environment is clean and sterile, chances of
spreading of plant diseases and infection in soil and
other growing media is greatly reduced and hence able
to absorb more minerals and vitamins as the nutrient
absorption rate is higher. For a plant to grow healthily
and successfully, sufficient amount of air is required to
be optimized and accessed to them by the air cultures.
Moreover, the necessary materials and devices which
support the growing plants must be devoid of disease or
pathogens too.

REFERENCES

1. Stoner, R.J. and J.M. Clawson (1997-1998). A

High Performance, Gravity Insensitive, Enclosed
Aeroponic System for Food Production in
Space. Principal Investigator, NASA SBIR NAS10-
98030.
2. du Toit LJ, Kirby HW, Pedersen and WL
(1997). "Evaluation of an Aeroponics System to Screen
Maize Genotypes for Resistance to Fusarium
graminearum Seedling Blight.". Plant Disease 81(2):
175–79. doi:10.1094/pdis.1997.81.2.175.
3. Barak, P., J.D. Smith, A.R. Krueger and L.A.
Peterson (1996). Measurement of short-term nutrient
uptake rates in cranberry by aeroponics. Plant, Cell
and Environment 19: 237-242.
4. Hoehn, A. (1998). Root Wetting Experiments
aboard NASA's KC-135 Microgravity Simulator.
BioServe Space Technologies.
5. Stoner, R.J. (1983). Aeroponics Versus Bed and
Hydroponic Propagation. Florists' Review Vol 1
173 (4477).
6. Hubick, K.T., D.R. Drakeford and D.M. Reid
(1982). A comparison of two techniques for growing
minimally water-stressed plants. Canadian Journal of
Botany 60: 219-223.
7. Coston, D.C., G.W. Krewer, R.C. Owing and
E.G. Denny (1983). Air Rooting of Peach
Semihardwood Cutting." HortScience 18(3): 323.
8. Stoner, R.J. (1989). Aeroponic Taxus Growth
Experiment., Internal Report, Hauser Chemical
9. Carter, W.A. (1942). A method of growing
plants in water vapor to facilitate examination of
roots. Phytopathology 732: 623-625.
10. NASA Spinoff (2006) Progressive Plant
Growing Has Business Blooming. Environmental and
Agricultural Resources NASA Spinoff 2006, pp68-
72.
11. Stoner, R.J (1983). Rooting in
Air. Greenhouse Grower Vol I No. 11
12. Briggs, B.A. (1966). An experiment in air-
rooting. International Plant Propagators' Society.
13. Nir, I. (1982), Apparatus and Method for
Plant growth in Aeroponic Conditions., Patent United
States