Spent Mushroom Substrate as a Transplant Media Replacement for Commercial Peat in Tomato Seedling Production

Abstract

Replacement of commercial peat media buy local composts would greatly improve transplant seedling production efficiency. The quality and effectiveness of substrate mushroom compost (SMS) was evaluated as a complete substitute for promix (PM) in the germination, growth and development of tomato seedling. Contrasting physicochemical properties were observed for the SMS and PM, both substrates falling outside the ideal media range for many properties. Germination percentage was > 95 % for both SMS fine (SMS F ) and PM treatments. The two SMS course (SMS C ) treatments showed significantly lower germination. For all growth parameters the fertilized SMS F treatment showed the greatest values at all sampling times. The non-significant difference between the fertilized PM and unfertilized SMS F treatments was notable. SMS treated seedlings were taller (32 %) and possessed a greater number of leaves (12 %) at 5 weeks after seeding (WAS) than PM seedlings at 6 WAS. SMS was shown to be a better media for tomato seedling production.

Spent Mushroom Waste as a Media Replacement for Peat Moss in Kai‐Lan (Brassica oleracea var. Alboglabra) Production

“…Peat is the most accepted and widely used substrate worldwide for potted plant production, and it accounts for a significant portion of growing substrates used for potted plants [17]. Peat has got high water holding capacity, good consistency, low strength, and excellent porosity [14]. However, peat is a natural and nonrenewable resource and its large-scale utilization is of great environmental concern [18].…”

“…However, peat is a natural and nonrenewable resource and its large-scale utilization is of great environmental concern [18]. Moreover, the diminishing reserves of peat have led to price increases which ultimately limit its use [14, 16]. In recent years, researchers are looking for viable alternatives for peat as a component of growth media for potted plants.…”

Biochar is a growth-promoting alternative to peat moss for the inoculation of corn with a pseudomonad

“…The appropriate water holding capacity, consistency, and high porosity of peat moss are qualities that have contributed to its worldwide use as an ingredient of growing substrates and as a carrier for commercial bacterial inoculants (Eudoxie and Alexender 2011). Rapidly decreasing reserves of exploitable non-renewable peat moss have led to price increases which will ultimately limit its use (Tariq et al 2012).…”

Tomato seedling growth response to different water sources and a substrate partially replaced with dewatered aquaculture effluent

“…In addition, transportation costs have escalated to ship peat affecting profitability for horticulture producers; therefore, the horticulture industry has evaluated alternative substrates to substitute peat for tomato seedling production. Alternative substrates investigated were coconut coir (Arenas et al 2002), wood fiber (Gruda and Schnitzler 2004), rice hulls (Evans and Gachukia 2004), spent mushroom waste (Eudoxie and Alexander 2011), swine waste (Ribeiro et al 2007), municipal solid waste (Herrera et al 2008;Kasmi et al 2012), pulp mill sludge (Levy and Taylor 2003), vermicompost (Atiyeh et al 2000;Bachman and Metzger 2008) and green waste composts (Ceglie et al 2011). However, few experiments investigated solid matter in aquaculture effluent as a substrate amendment for vegetable seedlings.…”