ISHS Acta Horticulturae 633: XXVI International Horticultural Congress: Protected Cultivation 2002: In Search of Structures, Systems and Plant Materials for Sustainable Greenhouse Production
ASSESSMENT OF SWINE WASTE BIOREMEDIATION USING GREENHOUSE TOMATOES |
| Authors: | K.H. Ponce, M.M. Peet, C.D. Harlow, J. Cheng, D.H. Willits |
| Keywords: | biofilter, nitrification, blossom-end rot, swine effluent, waste utilization, calcium-related disorders, nitrogen form |
| Abstract:
Lagoon effluent from a 4,000 sow production facility with an ambient temperature anaerobic digester and a traditional anaerobic storage lagoon in series, was used as a water and nutrient source for Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. cv. ‘Trust’, planted two per Bato® bucket filled with a 1:1 peat/pine bark mixture. Plants were randomly assigned to one of four fertilizer treatments: 1.) modified Steiner solution (conventional control) 2.) untreated lagoon effluent from the secondary lagoon 3.) lagoon effluent after nitrification (conversion of NH4 to NO3) in a trickling biofilter and 4.) optimized biofilter treatment, where necessary adjustments were made by dilution, acid injection and nutrient addition to approximate the conventional treatment. All fertilization treatments were monitored, recorded and controlled by the Harrow Fertigation Manager® (HFM) and applied via drip irrigation with two 3.78 l h-1 emitters per pot. Total yield (g/plant) was greatest in the conventional treatment with progressively lower yields in the optimized, biofilter and lagoon treatments. All treatment differences were significant. Fruit size also differed significantly, in the same order, with conventional being largest. Differences in size between biofilter and lagoon fruit were not significant, however. Proportion of fruit with blossom-end rot was greatest in the biofilter and lagoon treatments (32%), less (29%) in the optimized biofilter, and minimal (5%) in the conventional treatment. Fruit quality as measured by EC was greater in all treatments than in the conventional, but differences between the conventional and the optimized biofilter treatment were not significant. The rank order for brix measurements was the same as for EC, with fruit brix from conventional and optimized treatments being significantly lower than that from lagoon and biofilter treatments. | |
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