An Analysis of the Horticulture Industry as a Potential Value-Added Market for Compost

Walker, Paul; Williams, Daniel; Waliczek, Tina M.

doi:10.1080/1065657x.2006.10702259

Cited by 26 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The main commercial goal of horticultural nursery activity, however, is the production of standardized and healthy seedlings which cannot be subjected to variable characteristics of the growing media used. Nevertheless, compost represents by far the most deeply investigated constituent of growing media (Pinamonti et al 1997;Walker et al 2006;Roberts et al 2007;Tittarelli et al 2009;Ceglie et al 2015).…”

Section: Compost As a Growing Medium For Transplant Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organic substrate for transplant production in organic nurseries. A review

Pascual

Ceglie

Tüzel

et al. 2018

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

115

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A transplant can be defined as a seedling or sprouted vegetative propagation material grown in a substrate or in the field, for transfer to the final cropping site. Nurseries use a range of growing media in the production of transplants, and the quality of a substrate may be defined in terms of its feasibility for the intended use and also according to the climatic condition of the production site. Peat is the worldwide standard substrate, but because of its origin and the increasing environmental and ecological concerns, new alternatives have been proposed for organic production. Here, we reviewed these new alternatives, assuming that the proposed growing media will need to respond in a proper way to specific plant requirements while also taking them into consideration to be environmental friendly, at the same time. Appropriate composting management combined with suitable feedstock material can produce substrates with adequate properties to develop transplants. Potential added-value benefits of particularized compost have been highlighted, and these include suppressiveness or capacity for plant pathogen control, biofertilization, and biostimulation. This added value is an important point in relation to the framework of organic agriculture because the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides is limited. Different permitted fertilizers are proposed by incorporating them by dress fertilization before planting or by foliar fertilization or fertigation during the seedling production phase. In this context, specific beneficial microorganism inoculation demonstrates better and quicker nutrient solubilization. Its inclusion during seedling production not only facilitates plant growth during the germination and seedling stages but also could bring efficient microorganisms or beneficial microorganisms to the field with the transplants. This review will help to bridge the gap between the producers of compost and the seedling plant producers by providing updated literature.

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Section: Compost As a Growing Medium For Transplant Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organic substrate for transplant production in organic nurseries. A review

Pascual

Ceglie

Tüzel

et al. 2018

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

115

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…On the other hand, the scientific community has carried out research on vegetable nursery production during the last decade, with the main aim to investigate the potential of peat substitution with other organic matrices (de Kreij and van Leeuwen 2001;Frost et al 2002;Gruda and Schnitzler 2004a,b;Clemmensen 2004, Medina et al 2009). The most investigated alternative to peat was compost (Raviv and Zaidman 1998;Pinamonti et al 1997;Sanchez-Monedero et al 2004;Walker et al 2006;Kahn et al 2005;Grigatti et al 2007), a renewable and local resource.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Olive Pomace and Green Waste Composts As Peat Substitutes for Organic Tomato Seedling Production

Ceglie

Elshafie

Verrastro

et al. 2011

Compost Science & Utilization

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Compost based substrates for producing organic tomato seedlings (Lycopersicum esculentum L. cv. Rio Grande) were evaluated in a peat substitution experiment. Two composts made from olive pomace waste (OWC) and green waste (GWC) were produced and characterized, in comparison with a sphagnum peat moss, for the main physicochemical parameters and for their germination index. Both composts were used as growing media components at four rates (20%, 45%, 70%, 90% on a volume basis) and their performances were compared to peat based control growing media. During plant growth, nitrogen was added as blood meal. Plants were collected 36 days after sowing, plant performance parameters (stem length, leaves, stem and total fresh and dry biomass, leaves number and chlorophyll content values), and NPK shoot contents were measured. Treatments GWC 20%, 45% and OWC 20% showed the best performances, while 70% for green waste compost and 45% for olive pomace compost could be considered as upper limits for producing satisfactory organic tomato seedlings.

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“…Compost users in this industry have reported that the primary reasons for using compost were related to soil tilth, building the humus content of the soil, and increased plant growth [13]. However, the lack of information regarding the advantages and disadvantages of producing and marketing compost presents a barrier to compost adoption [13]. Sound production and financial information are needed to start a compost facility.…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

“…One attractive value-added market in the region for compost is the horticultural industry (nurseries, greenhouses, floriculturists, golf courses, etc.). Compost users in this industry have reported that the primary reasons for using compost were related to soil tilth, building the humus content of the soil, and increased plant growth [13]. However, the lack of information regarding the advantages and disadvantages of producing and marketing compost presents a barrier to compost adoption [13].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Feasibility and production costs of composting breeder and pullet litter with eggshell waste

Kemper¹,

Goodwin²

2009

Journal of Applied Poultry Research

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Phosphorus runoff from the land application of poultry litter has become a concern in watersheds in the Ozark Plateau region, prompting local growers to use alternative litter management practices. One option is the export of excess poultry litter from producers in nutrient-surplus watersheds to users located in areas where nutrient loads are not problematic. In 2006, nearly 100,000 tons of broiler and turkey litter was exported by BMPs Inc., a nonprofit corporation providing litter management services. However, breeder hen litter and pullet litter are rarely exported because there are limited outlets for these lower nutrient value litters. Another poultry industry by-product is eggshell waste from egg-breaking operations, most of which is currently landfilled at a cost of $25/ton. Composting was examined as an alternative method to convert litter and eggshell wastes into a marketable soil amendment, making use of the beneficial soil nutrients available in both; 4 blends and 2 production systems were analyzed. Process results indicated that during composting, the observed temperatures of each of the 4 blends were different, but all followed a similar trend throughout the production cycle. Functional group inventory and diversity analysis indicated that all blends fell within optimal ranges of microbial species, except for the ratio of aerobic to anaerobic bacteria; only blend 4 was within the optimal value for this parameter. Diversity values for each blend fell within the moderate diversity range (3 < d < 6.5). Maturity analysis results indicated that no blends were mature at 11 wk (index <50%) and could not safely be used in horticultural applications but could safely be used in field applications. Break-even analyses indicated that compost could be produced at an average cost (across the 4 blends) of $17.48 to $20.09/ton for systems 1 (small-scale) and 2 (large-scale), respectively.

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An Analysis of the Horticulture Industry as a Potential Value-Added Market for Compost

Cited by 26 publications

References 11 publications

Organic substrate for transplant production in organic nurseries. A review

Organic substrate for transplant production in organic nurseries. A review

Evaluation of Olive Pomace and Green Waste Composts As Peat Substitutes for Organic Tomato Seedling Production

Feasibility and production costs of composting breeder and pullet litter with eggshell waste

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