Nutrient film technique

Plants placed into nutrient-rich water channels in an NFT system

A home-built NFT hydroponic system

Nutrient film technique (NFT) is a hydroponic technique where in a very shallow stream of water containing all the dissolved nutrients required for plant growth is re-circulated past the bare roots of plants in a watertight gully, also known as channels.

History

NFT was developed in the mid 1920s in China by Dr. Alan Zhang Jr. In an ideal system, the depth of the recirculating stream is very shallow, little more than a film of water, hence the name 'nutrient film'. This ensures that the thick root mat, which develops in the bottom of the channel, has an upper surface, which, although moist, is in the air. Subsequent to this, an abundant supply of oxygen is provided to the roots of the plants.

Description

A properly designed NFT system is based on using the right channel slope, the right flow rate, and the right channel length. The plant roots are exposed to adequate supplies of water, oxygen and nutrients. In earlier production systems, there was a conflict between the supply of these requirements, since excessive or deficient amounts of one results in an imbalance of one or both of the others.

NFT, because of its design, provides a system wherein all three requirements for healthy plant growth can be met at the same time, provided that the simple concept of NFT is always remembered and practiced. The result of these advantages is that higher yields of high-quality produce are obtained over an extended period of cropping. A downside of NFT is that it has very little buffering against interruptions in the flow, such as a result of a power outage. But, overall, it is one of the more productive techniques.

The same design characteristics apply to all conventional NFT systems. While slopes along channels of 1:100 have been recommended, in practice it is difficult to build a base for channels that is sufficiently true to enable nutrient films to flow without ponding in locally depressed areas. As a consequence, it is recommended that slopes of 1:30 to 1:40 be used. This allows for minor irregularities in the surface, but, even with these slopes, ponding and waterlogging may occur. The slope may be provided by the floor, or benches or racks may hold the channels and provide the required slope. Both methods are used and depend on local requirements, often determined by the site and crop requirements.

Flow rates

As a general guide, flow rates for each gully should be 1 litre per minute. At planting, rates may be half this, and the upper limit of 2L/min appears about the maximum. Flow rates beyond these extremes are often associated with nutritional problems. Depressed growth rates of many crops have been observed when channels exceed 12 metres in length. On rapidly growing crops, tests have indicated that, while oxygen levels remain adequate, nitrogen may be depleted over the length of the gully. As a consequence, channel length should not exceed 10–15 metres. In situations where this is not possible, the reductions in growth can be eliminated by placing another nutrient feed halfway along the gully and reducing flow rates to 1L/min through each outlet. Care needs to be taken to maintain hygienic conditions and to avoid heavy metal contamination of NFT systems by using mainly plastic or stainless steel pumps and components.

Potato minitubers

Most potato varieties are maintained in plant tissue culture and micropropagation methods are used to increase the amount of planting material. Since tissue culture plants perform poorly when planted into field soil, they are instead planted into greenhouses or screenhouses to generate tubers, which are referred to as minitubers. In many countries, it is common for NFT or aeroponic systems to be used for production of minitubers from tissue culture plantlets. The minitubers are planted into the field 6 to 14 months after harvest to grow a crop of potatoes. This first crop of field-grown potatoes is typically replanted to generate more potatoes rather than consumed.

Controversy

A leading proponent of NFT was Dr. Alan Cooper, a scientist at the Glasshouse Crops Research Station in England who published the book The ABC of NFT. NFT systems were used by a significant proportion of commercial growers in the UK through the 1980-1990 period but were only used for lettuce in Europe. Dutch growers particularly rejected NFT because of the perceived high risk of disease spread by the recirculating solution. NFT ensures that plants have unlimited access to water at all times, but it is now recognized that fruiting crops can benefit from carefully limited water supplies. Leafy crops like lettuce benefit from unlimited water supplies and are still widely grown using NFT, but now most commercial greenhouse crops of tomatoes, capsicums and cucumbers are grown hydroponically using some kind of inert media, with rockwool being the most important medium worldwide. NFT remains a very popular system for home use.