The use of un-composted spent mushroom residue as a replacement of peat in substrates for Gossypium herbaceum and Talinum paniculatum

Abstract

In order to evaluate the effect of growing media with peat and spent mushroom residue (SMR) on medicinal plants, we cultured Gossypium herbaceum and Talinum paniculatum seedlings in the substrates with SMR in proportions of 0% (control), 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%. Results showed that G. herbaceum seedlings can survive in all treatments, but T. paniculatum seedlings died out in 75% and 100% SMR substrates where higher electrical conductance was found (2.3-2.7 dS m-1). Both growth and biomass mostly declined with the increase of SMR proportion in the growing media for the two species except for root biomass in T. paniculatum seedlings between the control and the 25% SMR treatment. Shoot nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations and contents tended to be higher in low- and high-SMR-proportional substrates, respectively. N and P statuses were both diagnosed to be excessive than needed for the two species. Overall, it was not recommended to culture G. herbaceum seedlings in the substrates with SMR; instead T. paniculatum seedlings can be cultured in the growing media with SMR in volumetric proportion of 25%.

Seedling Growth Characteristics of <i>Celtis australis</i> L. Genotypes on Different Substrates Under a Limited Fertilization

“…Numerous studies have been conducted presenting the effects of spent mushroom compost on growth and yield of different plants such as vegetables [37,38], ornamentals [43] and medicinal plants [44,45]. While most species present with positive effects, some species are negatively affected due to the presence of spent mushroom compost in the substrate [45].…”

“…Numerous studies have been conducted presenting the effects of spent mushroom compost on growth and yield of different plants such as vegetables [37,38], ornamentals [43] and medicinal plants [44,45]. While most species present with positive effects, some species are negatively affected due to the presence of spent mushroom compost in the substrate [45]. The studies confirm that higher yields and early growth of plants could be achieved with substrate mixtures consisting of spent mushroom compost in various ratios than for the plants that were grown in peat [37,41,45].…”

“…While most species present with positive effects, some species are negatively affected due to the presence of spent mushroom compost in the substrate [45]. The studies confirm that higher yields and early growth of plants could be achieved with substrate mixtures consisting of spent mushroom compost in various ratios than for the plants that were grown in peat [37,41,45]. Since the ratio of spent mushroom compost in the substrate may differ in order to obtain improved plant characteristics, it is also necessary to investigate the proper ratio of substrate components prior to use.…”

“…On those grounds, other organic materials have been investigated for their potential as an alternative to peat [40]. In such cases it is noted that studies, carried out with spent mushroom compost among those, presents better growth characteristics [37,41,44,45].…”

“…In this study, the best results as in growth characteristics for C. australis plants were recorded using on a mixture of SMC+S and LS+M+S growing substrates. Even though a growing medium formulated with spent mushroom substrate initially contains elevated and potentially phytotoxic concentrations of soluble salts, it could be successfully used on the growth of numerous woody nursery plants produced in containers [39,41,44,45,51]. The obtained data shows that using SMC-amended substrate resulted in better growth characteristics when growing C. australis in containers, since SMC has stimulatory effects on it as one of those woody nursery plants.…”