In the prefecture-level city of Heze in East China's Shandong province, Juye county is speeding up soilless cultivation by saving water, fertilizer and labor to plant vegetables, in a bid to popularize ecological and green fruits and vegetables, to bolster agricultural production.

In a greenhouse known as the soilless vegetable planting base of Yongfeng sub-district, it is a busy and orderly scene, as rows of green vegetables are arranged neatly and growing well, while staff routinely check the growth of seedlings.

Zhang Renfeng, a technician at the base, said: "Please look at this red Roman lettuce, which is quite rare for its variety. Its growth cycle is about 25 days and 12 batches of such vegetable can be harvested each year, when we use a deep-water cultivation method."

According to Zhang, the advantage of soilless culture is that crops can grow all year round without soil. In the whole planting process, nutrient solution is used to replace conventional fertilizer, while precise fertilization and irrigation are realized through water circulation.

This not only effectively avoids soil-borne diseases and pests in the process of planting management, but also saves labor, time, water and fertilizer, he said.

"Adopting the world's most advanced soilless cultivation at present can avoid the direct contact between roots and soil, and reduce the infection of pests and diseases," said Li Qinghua, a senior agronomist at the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau of Juye.

Li added that this helps save the use of fertilizers and pesticides, with the amount of fertilizers being cut by 30 percent and water slashed by 60 percent, thus realizing a green production of vegetables.

In recent years, Juye has solidified a green and ecological production mode through optimizing the cultivation structure, and promoting soilless vegetable and fruit cultivation, Li said, stressing that this not only helped vegetable growers gain more benefits, but also stimulated a new agricultural development momentum.

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