For soilless agriculture, there is a good future for a number of vegetable crops, but the extent of their use in the field of fruit crops is somewhat limited due to the different nature of fruit growth from vegetables in terms of plant size,flowering and fruiting habit, as well as chilling requirements.

We will also need to consider supplementing vegetables grown in soilless culture with trace and untratrace elements for our nutrition

Facing climate change and extensive soil use, soiless cultivation is a definite future for the ever growing population always demanding food. farmers will not afford any longer planting and re-planting the soil and risking their crop yields. in such context, soilless cultivation will be the future of vegetable crops, flowers and herbs.

Soilless culture is the most efficient technique in using prodution inputs. May be it is worthed to try to grow other crops in large pots such as dwarf trees. I think it is possible but it has to be economically evaluated for long term production.

In The Netherlands and Belgium, all tomatoes are produced in hydroculture (hence without soil matrix). This is done in glasshouses (heated in winter), which leads to tomato production during 11 months a year. Exhaust CO2 of the heating appliances is fed into the glasshouses which leads to a higher growth rate of the tomatoes, due to increased CO2 fertilization in the glasshouse. One month is used to start a new culture. large amounts of hydroponic solution is used for plant growth (and recycled with high pressure microfilters tor remove plant virusses. The tomatoes are produced for local and international markets for full yearly cycles. Though these tomatoes have a perfect shape and colour, their taste is a disillusion compared to Spanish tomatoes cultivated in plastic greenhouses in full soil and harvested by hand.

Even herbs can be cultivated in hydroponics as shown in the following table which cites a few of many.

Artemisia dracunculus; Mentha piperita; Mentha; Origanum vulgare; Basilicum; Ocimum; Salvia officinalis; SteviaStevia rebaudiana; Melissa officinalis; Rosmarinus officinalis

Hydroponic vegetables

Many vegetable and other food crops can be successfully grown in a hydroponic culture and in many cases they will grow much faster and better than other farming methods. Hydroponics allows you to grow short-cycle crops, such as lettuce, herbs and summer flowers.

You will see a list of vegetable crops that can be grown in a hydroponics system here. The list is not complete. There are many other plants that can be grown successfully using hydroponics. But simply to start the list:

Artichoke, chard, beans, broccoli, celery, cucumber, endive, eggplant, lettuce, melons, okra, bok choy, parsley, parsnips, pumpkin, radish, spinach, tomato, watermelon, and yes,... many others.

Hydroponic lettuces: These include a wide variety to do it all very well in a hydroponics system including lettuce, oak leaf, and romaine lettuce (Roman lettuce). Many others are also doing well, like Chinese lettuce.

Hydroponic tomato varieties: The standard tomato varieties do very well in hydroponic systems: MATCH, BLITZ, TRUST, GRACE, ROMANCE, Picolino, cello, and QUEST LYNX. Many other tomato varieties also do well in hydroponic systems.

Hydroponic Cucumber varieties: The cucumber varieties including; standard and mini. They do very well in hydroponic systemq: CORONA, Discover, Mustang, MANAR, CAMARO, Dominica and ACCOLADE. Other Cucumber varieties can do well in a hydroponic system. Cucumbers and tomatoes take a lot of room to grow. ISmall areas are enough to grow plants such as lettuce and herbs.

Each of these plants has its own hydroponic nutrients and require a different pH and light level. Some of the plants are situated in terms of conditions very close to each other, and may be co-cultured in the same water culture and glasshouse.

All these cultures are independent of soil type and can be grown anywhere where water and sunlight is available in high enough quantities. Also, the higher the latitude the higher the energy cost, but also the higher the CO2 fertilization of the glasshouse and the higher the harvests.

What more do you need to know Youssef. Parasites? They are eaten by a killer wasp in the glasshouse. No escape possible for the parasites and no herbicides on our plants. Moreover the Dutch and Belgian glasshouses are fully automated for internal climate and CO2 conditions, for water composition and supply, and last but not least harvesting and tomato sorting by size. No time to wast I would say. The low countries in Europe have always been forerunners in hydroponics.

Protected cultivation is not something new. It has several prospects and constraints.....

The prospects includes-

1) high yield

2) the ability to fully control the environment

3) adjustment of harvesting time

4) the ability to cultivate in regions where soils are degraded etc

The constraints are-

1) high investment costs

2) requires expertised personnel

These soilless culture techniques comes into play when growing of horticultural crops is targeted at seed production(as because production of healthy crop is limited by soil borne pathogens).Soilless cultures consider as a new developed technique for agriculture development but it is not simple technique. However, there is lack of technical background of the new technique among growers and horticulturists in many countries and well trained employs are needed.The system in any case need to take strong care and observation for the parameters needed for the good growth of the plants such as nutrient concentrations, light, oxygen around the plants root zone, water quality, pH, disinfection, temperature of the solution and more. There is extensive advance has been made as of late in the improvement of suitable soilless systems and there is a generally wide business applications now in Countries that applied farming innovations. Regardless of how "well controlled" it is,production of crops will always be a risky venture.

Soilless cultures is considered as a new developed technique for agriculture development in a way to face abiotic stresses like temperature. Moreover,it is a way to cultivate in regions where soil is degraded. It is the future for growing crops with high yields

Soilless culture helps facing climate change through the efficient utilization of natural resources and reducing malnutrition. In addition, under such protected system of cultivation an optimal regulation of micro-climate will be ensured eliminating global warming faced in the open-field conditions.

Soilless agriculture is a flexible technology for all agro-climatic zones. It efficiently generates crops in desert, infertile lands, mountainous regions, and on city rooftops. soilless fruits and vegetables have higher nutritional value and tastes better than soil grown crops. If optimum growing conditions and nutritional requirements are applied, combined with effective horticultural management, this agriculture system can offer alternative means for almost all commercial crops.

Soilless culture techniques represent the future agriculture as it solve many biotic and abiotic stresses. It's already on full use and proved its efficiency on many levels such as yield and economic output regardless its cost and hard maintenance. In near future, I think soilless culture will replace completely traditional culture as more environmental problems will rise that will push agricultural engineering to find new techniques to adapt more crops to soilless culture