Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2017) 6(4): 1007-1013 1007 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2017.604.124 Comparative Cultivation and Biochemical Analysis of Spinacia oleraceae Grown in Aquaponics, Hydroponics and Field Conditions P.S. Ranawade 1 , S.D. Tidke 1 * and A.K. Kate 2 Modern College of Agricultural Biotechnology, Pune, India *Corresponding author: ABSTRACT Introduction Open field based agriculture is facing some major challenges; most importantly decrease in percapital and availability. Due to rapid urbanization and industrialization as well as melting of icebergs are able land under cultivation is further going to decrease (Sardare et al., 2013). Reducing agricultural water use, while maintaining or improving economic productivity of the agricultural sector is a major challenge in arid and semiarid regions. To overcome this need the techniques like hydroponics and aquaponics are developed (Al-Karaki et al., 2012). International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 4 (2017) pp. 1007-1013 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Comparison between aquaponics, hydroponics and traditional method for cultivation of spinach was carried out. In this study, spinach was grown in the soilless media like perlite and sphagnum moss. Medias were used to support plant growth. From these Media the perlite media was used in aquaponics and sphagnum moss was used in hydroponics. This study was carried out to examine different morphological characters like height, germination period, surface area, yield of spinach, and biochemical analysis like protein, carbohydrate, chlorophyll content. The height and surface area of the traditionally cultivated spinach (Height- 23 cm) (Surface area- 79 sq.cm) was more than the hydroponically (Height- 18 cm) (Surface area- 70 sq.cm) and aquaponically (Height- 20.5) (Surface area- 72 sq.cm) cultivated spinach. But the germination period of aquaponically and hydroponically cultivated spinach (4 th day) was earlier than traditionally cultivated spinach (5 th day). The protein and carbohydrate content was more in aquaponically (Protein – 2.9%), (Carbohydrate – 3.9) and hydroponically (Protein - 2.7%), (Carbohydrate – 3.8) cultivated spinach than traditionally (Protein– 2.6%), (Carbohydrate– 3.8) cultivated spinach. Chlorophyll content was highest (0.07%) in the traditionally grown spinach and (0.06%) in aquaponically as well as hydroponically grown spinach. In traditionally and hydroponically cultivated spinach, plants were provided with all the nutritional requirements externally but in aquaponics nutrients were provided naturally through fish excrete. In hydroponics nutrient requirement was less compared to traditional method. In this work, guppy fishes were used in aquaponics as a source of nutrients. For hydroponics, the N: P: K fertilizer named 19:19:19 was given in small quantities. For traditionally cultivated spinach the fertilizers like Urea, 19:19:19 and 15:15:15 were applied. The yield of the aquaponically cultivated spinach was measured (4455Kg/acre); it was slightly more than hydroponically cultivated spinach (3780 Kg/acre) and much more than the traditionally cultivated spinach (1615 Kg/acre). Keywords Aquaponics, Hydroponics, Spinach, Soilless media. Accepted: 12 March 2017 Available Online: 10 April 2017 Article Info