Vol. 40 No. 2 (2026):
Articles

Nutrient chemistry in coconut-mineral mixed substrates for soilless culture

pdf
  • O.I. Monsalve Camacho,
  • N.Y. Luque Sanabria,
  • L.Á. Sánchez Rodríguez
O.I. Monsalve Camacho
Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Bogotá, Carrera 30, 45-03, Edificio 500, Bogotá, Colombia.
N.Y. Luque Sanabria
Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria (AGROSAVIA), Km 14 vía Mosquera, Bogotá, Colombia.
L.Á. Sánchez Rodríguez
Programa de Ingeniería Agronómica, Universidad de Ciencias Aplicadas y Ambientales (U.D.C.A), Calle 222, 55-37, Bogotá, Colombia.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/ahsc-18670
Categories

Published 2026-07-27

Keywords

  • Carbon slag,
  • perlite,
  • pumice,
  • soluble and exchangeable fractions,
  • vermiculite,
  • zeolite
    • ...More
    Less

How to Cite

Monsalve Camacho, O. I., Luque Sanabria, N. Y., & Sánchez Rodríguez, L. Ángela. (2026). Nutrient chemistry in coconut-mineral mixed substrates for soilless culture. Advances in Horticultural Science, 40(2), 165–180. https://doi.org/10.36253/ahsc-18670

Copyright (c) 2026 Oscar Ivan Monsalve Camacho, Nadia Luque Sanabria, Luz Ángela Sánchez Rodríguez

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

Abstract

The use of substrate mixtures in soilless culture systems requires a comprehensive understanding of their chemical behavior, particularly regarding their capacity to supply or retain nutrients. This study evaluated the soluble and exchangeable fractions of coconut coir substrate mixed at five different proportions (100-0%, 75-25%, 50-50%, 25-75%, and 0-100%) with five mineral materials: coal slag, perlite, pumice, vermiculite, and zeolite. A total of 25 treatments were assessed under greenhouse conditions using carnation cuttings (Dianthus caryophyllus cv. Pomodoro) as a plant bioindicator. Results showed that vermiculite mixtures exhibited the highest cation exchange capacity (CEC) and significant sodium, manganese, and iron concentrations, while zeolite showed elevated levels of calcium and sodium in the exchangeable phase. Root development was positively correlated with soluble potassium, sodium, chloride, and sulfate levels. Treatments with equal proportions of vermiculite or pumice and coconut substrate (50:50) achieved the best rooting performance. These results highlight the importance of considering both soluble and exchangeable nutrient fractions to support substrate selection and fertigation management decisions in sustainable soilless crop production.

pdf

References

  1. ABAD M., FORNES F., CARRIÓN C., NOGUERA V., NOGUERA P., MAQUIEIRA Á., PUCHADES R., 2005 - Physical properties of various coconut coir dusts compared to peat. - HortSci., 40(7): 2138-2144.
  2. ABAD M., NOGUERA P., BURES S., 2001 - National inventory of organic wastes for use as growing media for ornamental potted plant production: Case study in Spain. - Bioresour. Technol., 77(2): 197-200.
  3. ABAD M., NOGUERA P., PUCHADES R., MAQUIEIRA A., NOGUERA V., 2002 - Physico-chemical and chemical properties of some coconut coir dusts for use as a peat substitute for containerised ornamental plants. - Bioresour. Technol., 82(3): 241-245.
  4. ANDRADE J.D.J., DE JESUS O.N., SAMPAIO S.R., DOS SANTOS I.S., DE SÁ J.V.P., SILVA LIMA L.K., 2025 - Coconut fiber and enriched hydrogel as promising alternatives for the production of Passiflora edulis Sims seedlings. - Aust. J. Crop Sci., 19(5): 510-517.
  5. ANSORENA M., 1994 - Sustratos: Propiedades y caracterización. - Mundi-Prensa, Madrid, Spain, pp. 172.
  6. ASIAH A., MOHDR AZI I., MOHD KHANIF Y., MARZIAH M., SHAHARUDDIN M., 2004 - Physical and chemical properties of coconut coir dust and oil palm empty fruit bunch and the growth of hybrid heat tolerant cauliflower. - Pertanika J. Trop. Agric. Sci., 27(2): 121-129.
  7. BALASUBRAMANIAM T., SHEN G., ESMAEILI N., ZHANG H., 2023 - Plants’ response mechanisms to salinity stress. - Plants, 12(12): 2253.
  8. BLOCK C., DE KREIJ C., BAAS R., WEVER G., 2008 - Analytical methods used in soilless cultivation, pp. 245-289. - In: RAVIV M., and J. HEINRICK (eds.) Soilless culture. Theory and practice. Elsevier, Wageningen, The Netherlands, pp. 587.
  9. BOODT M., VERDONCK O., CAPPAERT I., 1974 - Method for measuring the water release curve of organic substrates. - Acta Horticulturae, 37: 2054-2062.
  10. BRÍGIDA A., CALADO V., GONÇALVES L., COELHO M., 2010 - Effect of chemical treatments on properties of green coconut fiber. - Carbohydr. Polym., 79: 832-838.
  11. CAPODILUPO M., STIPIC M., VENEZIA A., 2015 - Soilless cultivation of cherry tomato with gutter subirrigation and reused substrate. - Adv. Hort. Sci., 29(2-3): 121-124.
  12. CIRILLO C., DE MICCO V., ARENA C., CARILLO P., PANNICO A., DE PASCALE S., ROUPHAEL Y., 2019 - Biochemical, physiological and anatomical mechanisms of adaptation of Callistemon citrinus and Viburnum lucidum to NaCl and CaCl₂ salinization. - Front. Plant Sci., 10: 742.
  13. DE MENDIBURU F., 2023 - Agricolae: Statistical procedures for agricultural research. - R package version 1.3-7.
  14. DOĞAN M., ALKAN M., 2003 - Removal of methyl violet from aqueous solution by perlite. - J. Colloid Interface Sci., 267(1): 32-41.
  15. ESHGHI S., BAHADORAN M., SALEHI H., 2014 - Growth of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) seedling sown in soil mixed with nitrogen and natural zeolite. - Adv. Hort. Sci., 28(1): 20-24.
  16. FENG J., LIU M., FU L., ZHANG K., XIE Z., SHI D., MA X., 2020 - Enhancement and mechanism of vermiculite thermal expansion modified by sodium ions. - RSC Adv., 10(13): 7635-7642.
  17. FILZMOSER P., GSCHWANDTNER M., 2021 - Mvoutlier: Multivariate outlier detection based on robust methods. - R package version 2.1.1.
  18. GARCÍA-CAPARRÓS P., LAO M., 2018 - The effects of salt stress on ornamental plants and integrative cultivation practices. - Sci. Hortic., 240: 430-439.
  19. GARCÍA-CAPARRÓS P., LLANDERAL A., PESTANA M., CORREIA P., LAO M., 2016 - Tolerance mechanisms of three potted ornamental plants grown under moderate salinity. - Sci. Hortic., 201: 84-91.
  20. GBOLLIE S., MWONGA S., KIBE A., 2021 - Effects of calcium nitrate levels and soaking durations on cocopeat nutrient content. - J. Agric. Chem. Environ., 10: 372-388.
  21. GLĄB T., GONDEK K., MARCIŃSKA-MAZUR L., JAROSZ R., MIERZWA-HERSZTEK M., 2023 - Effect of organic/inorganic composites as soil amendments on biomass productivity and root architecture of spring wheat and rapeseed. - J. Environ. Manage., 344: 118628.
  22. GRUDA N.S., 2019 - Increasing sustainability of growing media constituents and stand-alone substrates in soilless culture systems. - Agronomy, 9(6): 298.
  23. GUARNIERI S.F., DO NASCIMENTO E.C., COSTA JUNIOR R.F., FARIA J.L.B. DE, LOBO F.A., 2021 - Coconut fiber biochar alters physical and chemical properties in sandy soils. - Acta Sci. Agron., 43(1): e51801.
  24. GUL A., KIDOGLU F., ANAC D., 2007 - Effect of nutrient sources on cucumber production in different substrates. - Sci. Hortic., 113: 216-220.
  25. HAO L., SUN J., ZENG M., WANG C., 2023 - Development of effective expanded vermiculite flocculant for enhanced primary treatment of swine wastewater. - Appl. Clay Sci., 232: 106759.
  26. HARRELL J.F., 2025 - Hmisc: Harrell miscellaneous. - R package version 5.2-3. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=Hmisc
  27. HELLER C., NUNEZ G., 2022 - Preplant fertilization increases substrate microbial respiration but does not affect southern highbush blueberry establishment in a coconut coir-based substrate. - HortSci., 57(1): 17-21.
  28. HOANG N.N., KITAYA Y., SHIBUYA T., ENDO R., 2019 - Development of an in vitro hydroponic culture system for wasabi nursery plant production: effects of nutrient concentration and supporting material on plantlet growth. - Sci. Hortic., 245: 237-243.
  29. HOSNIYEH A., DABIRI R., MAJDI A.A., SABBAGHTAZEH E., 2024 - Comparison of perlite and pumice effects on the geotechnical properties of saline silty soil. - Geomech. Geoeng., 19(6): 1126-1143.
  30. HUANG J., FISHER P., ARGO W., JEONG K., ALTLAND J., 2025 - Macronutrient solubility in response to the pH of soilless container substrates. - J. Soil Sci. Plant Nutr., 25: 3224-3240.
  31. HUANG J., QIU X., ZHANG H., ZHANG C., LU Z., LUO T., HE C., ZHANG J., SHUAI Z., 2025 - Adsorption performance and mechanism of HFO/pumice composites for phosphate in water. - Limnologica, 111: 126237.
  32. JAROSZ R., SZEREMENT J., GONDEK K., MIERZWA-HERSZTEK M., 2022 - The use of zeolites as an addition to fertilisers - A review. - Catena, 213: 106125.
  33. JENAGATHAN M., 2008 - Nut water analysis as a diagnostic tool in coconut nutrition studies. - Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal., 23(17-20): 2667-2686.
  34. JUPP A., BEIJER S., NARAIN G., SCHIPPER W., SLOOTWEG J., 2020 - Phosphorus recovery and recycling - closing the loop. - Chem. Soc. Rev., 50: 87-101.
  35. KEBABI B., TERCHI S., BOUGHERARA H., REINERT L., DUCLAUX L., 2017 - Removal of manganese (II) by edge site adsorption on raw and milled vermiculites. - Appl. Clay Sci., 139: 92-98.
  36. KNAUS U., HILLER C., XU L., 2025 - Wheatgrass (Triticum aestivum) growth and nutrient composition in aquaponics with African catfish using Einheitserde and coconut:vermiculite substrates. - Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res., 32: 16446-16468.
  37. KWON O.K., MEKAPOGU M., KIM K.S., 2019 - Effect of salinity stress on photosynthesis and related physiological responses in carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus). - Hortic. Environ. Biot, 60(6): 831-839.
  38. LI J., LI J., SUN H., LI X., SUN L., LI W., 2025 - Leaching characteristics of exogenous Cl⁻ in rain-fed potato fields and residual estimation model validation. - Plants, 14(14): 2171.
  39. MACHADO R., BUI H., 2021 - Physicochemical characteristics of substrates of the mixture of coir with municipal solid waste compost and with biochar. - Acta Horticulturae, 1320: 399-404.
  40. MALÍK M., TLUSTOŠ P., 2025 - Soilless growing media for cannabis cultivation. - Agriculture, 15(18): 1955.
  41. MARKOSKA V., SPALEVIĆ V., GULABOSKI R., 2018 a - Influence of porosity on perlite substrate and its interaction with soil and peat substrates. - Agric. For., 64(3): 15-29.
  42. MARKOSKA V., SPALEVÍC V., LISICHKOV K., ATKOVSKA K., GULABOSKI R., 2018 b - Determination of water retention characteristics of perlite and peat. - Agric. For., 64(3): 113-126.
  43. MARTÍNEZ P.F., ROCA D., 2011 - Sustratos para el cultivo sin suelo: propiedades y manejo, pp. 37-78. - In: FLÓREZ V. (ed.) Sustratos, manejo de clima, automatización y control en sistemas de cultivo sin suelo. Unibiblos, Bogotá, Colombia, pp. 394.
  44. MONSALVE C.O.I., HENAO T.M.C., GUTIÉRREZ D.J.S., 2021 - Characterizing potential substrate materials in soilless culture systems. - Cienc. Tecnol. Agropecu., 22(1): e1977.
  45. MUNNS R., PASSIOURA J., COLMER T., BYRT C., 2020 - Osmotic adjustment and energy limitations to plant growth in saline soil. - New Phytol., 225: 1091-1096.
  46. NELSON P.V., 2012 - Greenhouse operation and management. - 7th ed. Pearson Education, London, UK, pp. 624.
  47. NG J., AHMED O., JALLOH M., OMAR L., KWAN Y., MUSAH A., POONG K., 2022 - Soil nutrient retention and pH buffering capacity are enhanced by calciprill and sodium silicate. - Agronomy, 12(1): 219.
  48. PACE B., CAPOTORTO I., GONNELLA M., BARUZZI F., CEFOLA M., 2018 - Influence of soil and soilless agricultural growing system on postharvest quality of three ready-to-use multi-leaf lettuce cultivars. - Adv. Hortic. Sci, 32(3): 353-362.
  49. PEÑA M., CASIERRA F., MONSALVE O., 2013 - Producción hidropónica de tomate (Solanum lycopersicum L.) en cascarilla de arroz mezclada con materiales minerales y orgánicos. - Rev. Colomb. Cienc. Hortic., 7(2): 217-227.
  50. PETMUENWAI N., SRIHABAN P., KUME T., YAMAMOTO T., IWAI C., 2024 - Remediating severely salt-affected soil with vermicompost and organic amendments for cultivating salt-tolerant crops. - Agronomy, 14(8): 1745.
  51. QUINTERO M., GUZMÁN J., VALENZUELA J., 2012 - Evaluación de sustratos alternativos para el cultivo de miniclavel (Dianthus caryophyllus L.). - Rev. Colomb. Cienc. Hortic., 6(1): 76-87.
  52. R CORE TEAM, 2025 - R: A language and environment for statistical computing. - R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria.
  53. RAVIV M., LIETH J.H., 2008 - Soilless culture: Theory and practice. - Elsevier, Wageningen, The Netherlands, pp. 587.
  54. RAVIV M., LIETH J.H., BAR-TAL A., 2019 - Soilless culture. Theory and practice. - 2nd ed. Elsevier, Wageningen, The Netherlands, pp. 712.
  55. REKA A., PAVLOVSKI B., LISICHKOV K., JASHARI A., BOEV B., BOEV I., LAZAROVA M., ESKIZEYBEK V., ORAL A., JOVANOVSKI G., MAKRESKI P., 2019 - Chemical, mineralogical and structural features of native and expanded perlite from Macedonia. - Geol. Croat., 72(3): 215-221.
  56. SAN ANDRÉS G., AGUILAR-SIERRA S., GRAZIELLA B., 2023 - Morphological, physical and chemical characterization of coconut residues in Ecuador. - Heliyon, 9: e19267.
  57. SATYANARAYANA K., PILLAI C., SUKUMARAN K., PILLAI S., ROHATGI P., VIJAYAN K., 1982 - Structure-property studies of fibres from various parts of the coconut tree. - J. Mater. Sci., 17: 2453-2462.
  58. SCHNEIDER J., THIESEN L., ENGROFF T., HOLZ E., ALTÍSSIMO B., 2018 - Growth analysis of lettuce under different substrate compositions. - Adv. Hort. Sci., 32(2): 221-227.
  59. SERNA A., 2012 - Selección de tecnologías apropiadas para el aprovechamiento de la escoria en el sector siderúrgico. - Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, Facultad de Ciencias Ambientales, Pereira, Colombia, pp. 53.
  60. SILBER A., 2008 - Chemical characteristics of soilless media, pp. 210-239 - In: RAVIV M., and J. HEINRICK (eds.) Soilless culture. Theory and practice. Elsevier, Wageningen, The Netherlands, pp. 587.
  61. SILBER A., 2019 - Chemical characteristics of soilless media, pp. 113-142. - In: RAVIV M., LIETH J.H., BAR-TAL A. (eds.) Soilless culture. Theory and practice. 2nd ed. Elsevier, Wageningen, The Netherlands, pp. 691.
  62. SILBER A., BAR-YOSEF B., SURYANO S., LEVKOVITCH I., 2012 - Zinc adsorption by perlite: effects of pH, ionic strength, temperature and pre-use as growth substrate. - Geoderma, 170: 159-167.
  63. SILBER A., RAVIV M., 1996 - Effects on chemical surface properties of tuff by growing rose plants. - Plant Soil, 186: 353-360.
  64. SONNEVELD C., VOOGT W., 2009 - Plant nutrition of greenhouse crops. - Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp. 431.
  65. STOIAN M., DOLTU M., DRĂGHICI E.M., 2022 - Results concerning obtaining of lettuce on perlite substrate. - Curr. Trends Nat. Sci., 11(21): 134-138.
  66. SVENSSON T., LÖFGREN A., SAETRE P., KAUTSKY U., BASTVIKEN D., 2023 - Chlorine distribution in soil and vegetation along a moisture gradient. - Environ. Sci. Technol., 57(30): 11067-11074.
  67. XU J., MOHAMED E., LI Q., LU T., YU H., JIANG W., 2021 - Effect of humic acid addition on buffering capacity and nutrient storage capacity of soilless substrates. - Front. Plant Sci., 12: 644229.
  68. YAN K., MA Y., BAO S., LI W., WANG Y., SUN C., LU X., RAN J., 2024 - Impact of coconut peat and vermiculite on the rhizosphere microbiome of pre-basic seed potatoes under soilless cultivation. - Microorganisms, 12(3): 584.
  69. YANG T., ALTLAND J., SAMARAKOON U., 2023 - Evaluation of substrates for cucumber production in the Dutch bucket hydroponic system. - Sci. Hortic., 308: 111578.
  70. YU H., LU X., MIKI T., MATSUBAE K., SASAKI Y., NAGASAKA T., 2022 - Sustainable phosphorus supply by phosphorus recovery from steelmaking slag: a critical review. - Resour. Conserv. Recycl., 180: 106203.
  71. ZHAO R., SOFKOVA-BOBCHEVA S., CARTMILL D.L., HARDY D., ZERNACK A., 2024 - Comparative evaluation of pumice as a soilless substrate for indoor Rubus idaeus cultivation. - New Zealand J. Crop Hortic. Sci., 52(3): 280-297.