Table 6. Growth of five leafy vegetables in HBFT-AP and HP for 23 days (Exp1)

Cultivar (n = 12)	Growth factor	Initial	Culture method
Cultivar (n = 12)	Growth factor	Initial	HBFT-AP	HP
Multi green (Lactuca sativa)	Stem mean weight (g)	-	0.78	0.99
	Leaf no.	-	-	-
	Leaf weight (g)	1.49 ± 0.32	56.15 ± 11.76^ns	74.83 ± 12.01
	Root mean weight (g)	0.23	3.98	5.20
	Leaf length (cm)	3.27 ± 0.14	14.64 ± 0.73^ns	15.98 ± 1.39
Multi red (Lactuca sativa)	Stem mean weight (g)	-	0.69	0.76
	Leaf no.	-	-	-
	Leaf weight (g)	1.54 ± 0.26	53.93 ± 7.56^ns	45.05 ± 6.18
	Root mean weight (g)	0.37	2.70	2.76
	Leaf length (cm)	3.84 ± 0.41	15.23 ± 0.61^ns	14.48 ± 0.71
Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris)	Stem mean weight (g)	-	0.88	0.78
	Leaf no.	4.25 ± 0.35	29.12 ± 3.38^*	23.05 ± 3.05
	Leaf weight (g)	2.58 ± 0.46	92.70 ± 14.94^ns	81.43 ± 13.66
	Root mean weight (g)	0.28	2.48	3.98
	Leaf length (cm)	4.54 ± 0.26	26.75±2.30^ns	23.54±2.46
Abata lettuce (Lactuca sativa)	Stem mean weight (g)	-	1.44	1.72
	Leaf no.	6.85 ± 0.41	20.50 ± 1.78^ns	18.33 ± 1.30
	Leaf weight (g)	2.72 ± 0.18	76.90 ± 8.88^ns	77.79 ± 8.72
	Root mean weight (g)	0.41	3.67	5.84
	Leaf length (cm)	6.84 ± 0.51	22.43 ± 1.48^ns	24.17 ± 0.71
Red romaine lettuce (Lactuca sativa)	Stem mean weight (g)	-	1.63	0.88
	Leaf no.	5.24 ± 0.32	21.33 ± 1.67^ns	19.08 ± 1.38
	Leaf weight (g)	3.98 ± 0.27	70.81 ± 5.00^ns	72.61 ± 9.40
	Root mean weight (g)	0.39	5.32	2.48
	Leaf length (cm)	6.72 ± 0.63	28.97 ± 0.68 ^ns	30.08 ± 0.80

Values (means ± SD of sampled leafy vegetables) with * superscripts in the same line are significantly different (p < 0.05). HBFT-AP, hybrid biofloc technology-aquaponics; HP, hydroponics; ns, nonsignificant.