In the experiment, we evaluated the effect of a substrate on a duration of basil plants’ shelf quality after its water supply is cut. The main goal was to find a substrate with added mineral or synthetic components, which can withhold the biggest amount of water for preserving the quality of the saplings. The experiment was carried out in a greenhouse at Biotechnical Faculty, Ljubljana. We chose five substrates: control substrate, substrate with a 2 cm disc of mineral wool, 20 vol. % flakes, 20 vol. % vermiculite respectively and a substrate with agrogel, in 4 repetitions for every substrate mixture. The seeds of basil 'Hohes Grünes Superbo' were planted on July 19th 2017. We transplanted the saplings on August 24th 2017, when we also sampled them for the first time to calculate the mass of water in their root system and in green parts of plants. We have weighed the pots at constant 25 °C twice a day from September 4th 2017 to October 5th 2017 and the pots with plants from September 4th 2017 to September 20th 2017 also twice a day. At the same time, we sampled leaves to calculate relative water content in the leaves. The biggest percentage loss of water occurred in pots with disc (64.96 %) and the smallest loss occurred in pots with control substrate (59.84 %). On average, the duration of shelf quality was the longest in pots with flakes (13.6 days), the shortest in pots with control substrate (12.9 days). We have noticed that the plants with higher percentage of water in root system by the end of experiment preserved the turgor in leaves the longest.
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