Agricultural waste recycling in horticultural intensive farming systems by on-farm composting and compost-based tea application improves soil quality and plant health: A review under the perspective of a circular economy

Compost Inoculated with Fungi from a Mangrove Habitat Improved the Growth and Disease Defense of Vegetable Plants

“…The lack of significant interaction between the species indicated that all of the fungal treatments produced similar compost concerning the physico-chemical properties measured. However, the microbial community in the compost has been shown to be of importance, as reviewed recently by [35]. This was observed in our study as well.…”

“…Municipal waste composting, especially small-scale composting, provides benefits from agriculture to the circular economy [34,35]. The use of compost reduces the need for fertilizers in farming; compost addition has been shown to increase yields more than nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK) chemical fertilization alone [20].…”

“…The use of compost reduces the need for fertilizers in farming; compost addition has been shown to increase yields more than nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK) chemical fertilization alone [20]. Moreover, compost has been shown to reduce many plant diseases [7,35]. We focused on further ameliorating the quality of compost by inoculating fungi into the composting process.…”

“…The bacterium Streptomyces sp., when used in composting, was observed to suppress several pathogens [48]. Filamentous fungi (Trichoderma, Fusarium, Gliocladium, Aspergillus and Penicillium) have also been inoculated and suppressed pathogens successfully, as reviewed recently [35]. The review did not include our mangrove-associated fungal species P. vinaceum and E. hirayamae, which we, therefore, can add to the list.…”

Effect of Food Waste Compost (FWC) and its Non-Aerated Fermented Extract (NFCE) on Seeds Germination and Plant Growth

“…The FWC and its fermented extract were used as soil amendment for the growth of three seedlings varieties: peas (Pisum sativum L.); chickpea (Cicer arietinum) and beans (Vicia faba) ( Table 5). The results showed the significant increase (p < 0.05) of the plant height, stem diameter and leaves number of all the used seedlings when the soil was irrigated with NFCE (A) comparing to that with distilled water (A0) ( Table 5), confirming the NFCE fertilizing contents, such as organic matter and mineral elements [35]. Furthermore, the addition of the fermented compost extract derivatives improved the young plants rigorous state, defined by the H/D ratio.…”