Acta Agriculturae Zhejiangensis ›› 2026, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (7): 1297-1312.DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1004-1524.20250355

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Effects of nutrient solution formulation on growth, yield and nutritional quality of hydroponic vegetable sweet potato

MA Wenqing(), PANG Linjiang, WANG Siyu, SHU Xing, CUI Peng, XU Ximing, LYU Zunfu, LU Guoquan*()   

  1. College of Modern Agriculture, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China
  • Received:2025-05-06 Online:2026-07-25 Published:2026-08-20

Abstract:

Vegetable sweet potato, as a novel leafy vegetable, currently lacks specialized nutrient solution formulations for hydroponic cultivation. To investigate the effects of different nutrient solution formulations on the growth, yield and quality of hydroponic vegetable sweet potato, this study used the nutrient film technique (NFT) for hydroponic cultivation. Three vegetable sweet potato varieties, Shulyu 1 (variety A), Xucaiguan 1 (variety B), and Nonglin Zibai (variety C), were used as experimental materials. Six nutrient solution formulation treatments were established: Hoagland universal formulation (control, CK), Japanese garden trial formulation (T1), South China Agricultural University leafy vegetable A formulation (T2), the Japanese Yamazaki Chrysanthemum formulation (T3), Cooper universal formulation (T4) and Dutch greenhouse formulation (T5). By measuring growth indicators, texture indicators and quality indicators of each variety under different nutrient solution formulations, the effects of different formulations on the growth, yield and quality of vegetable sweet potato were studied. A comprehensive quality evaluation model was constructed based on principal component analysis, and quality was evaluated through comprehensive scores to screen for the optimal nutrient solution formulation and variety. The results showed that under different nutrient solution formulations, the trends of indicator changes varied among the vegetable sweet potato varieties. Under the T2 treatment, the shoot dry matter rate, soluble sugar content, starch content and vitamin C content of all three varieties reached their highest levels, while nitrate content was the lowest. The trends for other indicators were inconsistent among different formulations; for example, yield per plant was higher under CK, T1 and T3 treatments. The comprehensive scores of vegetable sweet potatoes under different formulation treatments showed a relatively consistent trend. The comprehensive scores of all three varieties under the T2 treatment were the highest and significantly higher than those of CK and other treatment groups. The comprehensive scores of variety B and variety C under each treatment were similar and both were significantly higher than that of variety A. In conclusion, among the six nutrient solution formulations, the South China Agricultural University leafy vegetable A formulation was the optimal formulation, significantly improving the quality of hydroponic vegetable sweet potato. The qualities of Xucaiguan 1 (variety B) and Nonglin Zibai (variety C) were relatively similar and both were superior to that of Shulyu 1 (variety A).

Key words: vegetable sweet potato, nutrient solution formulation, hydroponics, quality, comprehensive evaluation model

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