Effects of vermicomposts produced from food waste on the growth and yields of greenhouse peppers
- 作者：Arancon ; Norman Q. ; Edwards ; Clive A. ; Atiyeh ; Rola ; Metzger ; James D.
- 关键词：Food waste ; Vermicomposts ; Pepper ; Plant growth ; Yield
- 刊名：Bioresource Technology
- 出版年：2004
- 期刊代码：11_09608524
- 类别：ce
- 出版时间：June, 2004
- 卷：93
- 期：2
- 页码：139-144
- 文件大小：259 K
摘要
Vermicomposts, produced commercially from food wastes, were substituted at a range of different concentrations into a soil-less commercial bedding plant container medium, Metro-Mix 360 (MM360), to evaluate their effects on the growth and yields of peppers in the greenhouse. Six-week-old peppers (Capsicum annum L. var. California) were transplanted into 100%, 80%, 60%, 40%, 20%or 10%MM360 substituted with 0%, 10%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%and 100%vermicompost. All plants were watered three times weekly with 200 ppm Peter's Nutrient Solution from the time of transplanting up to 107 days. Peppers grown in potting mixtures containing 40%food waste vermicomposts and 60%MM360 yielded 45%more fruit weights and had 17%greater mean number of fruits than those grown in MM360 only. The mean heights, numbers of buds and numbers of flowers of peppers grown in potting mixtures containing 10–80%vermicompost although greater did not differ significantly from those of peppers grown in MM360. There were no positive correlations between the increases in pepper yields, and the amounts of mineral-N and microbial biomass-N in the potting mixtures, or the concentrations of nitrogen in the shoot tissues of peppers. Factors such as: an improvement of the physical structure of the potting medium, increases in populations of beneficial microorganisms and the potential availability of plant growth-influencing-substances produced by microorganisms in vermicomposts, could have contributed to the increased pepper yields obtained.