ISHS Acta Horticulturae 469: International Symposium on Composting & Use of Composted Material in Horticulture
CATTLE MANURE COMPOST AS SUBSTRATE. II - CONDITIONING AND FORMULATION OF GROWING MEDIA FOR CUT FLOWER CULTURES |
| Authors: | O. Marfà, J.M. Tort, C. Olivella, R. Cáceres, F.X. Martínez |
| Keywords: | cattle manure compost, substrate conditioning, pH, salinity, substrate formulation, gerbera, carnation |
| Abstract:
Normally the cattle manure compost (CMC) is not used for preparing substrates as a consequence of some unfavourable characteristics. Previous research shows that CMC has good physical characteristics, low phytotoxicity levels, and high microbial activity. But in most of the CMC examined the soluble salt content is high and the pH is alkaline. It is necessary to correct these two parameters. Different doses of micronised sulphur were tested as well as the reaction time to correct the pH. The results show that a dose of 6.5 gS 1-1 of CMC and a reaction time of four weeks are necessary to reduce the pH from 8.0 to 6.0. The high EC of the CMC is caused by nutrient and not valuable ions. Different leachate efficiency rates were determined. Depending on the crop requirements the user can choose the most adequate leachate ratio using the obtained data. Finally, to pre-establish the most adequate mixtures according with some crop requirements (aeration, available water and salinity) in order to maximize the CMC rate, a linear parametric programming method (LPP) was applied. The experimental values of the mixtures are getting quiet close to the ones predicted. The results show that LPP can be used as an efficient tool to formulate mixtures in which CMC takes part. | |
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