Table 1.
Advantages and disadvantages between geoponics, agar plates and three distinct aggregate hydroponics methods for cultivating arabidopsis plants
| Parameter | Geoponics (i.e. soil/sand) | Agar plates |
Aggregate hydroponics |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polystyrene/ Rockwool | Araponics© | This system (Conn et al.) | |||
|
Setup costs |
Low |
Low |
Low |
High |
Low |
|
Running costs | |||||
|
Media |
Low |
Intermediate |
Low |
Intermediate |
Low |
|
Equipment |
Low |
Intermediate |
Low |
Intermediate |
Low |
|
Footprint |
Small |
Small |
Small |
Small-to- Intermediate* |
Small |
|
Sterile culture |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
|
Batch variability |
High |
Low |
Low |
Low |
Low |
|
Experimental Flexibility |
Low |
Intermediate |
High |
High |
High |
|
Contamination (algal, bacterial) |
Medium |
High |
High |
Low |
Low |
|
Throughput |
High |
Intermediate |
Intermediate |
Intermediate |
Intermediate |
|
Root entanglement |
Yes |
Potential |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Developmental window | Mature plants | < 3 week-old seedlings | Mature plants | Mature plants | Mature plants |
* Can use either the low or high density trays.
The system presented in this manuscript is regarded as agar-based, aggregate hydroponics. Estimated setup costs for Araponics system is approximately US$4 per plant, while for the system presented in this paper is US$0.81 (based on 140 plants, pricing as per January 2013, http://www.araponics.com).