عنوان مجله
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BIOLOGICAL AGRICULTURE & HORTICULTURE
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چکیده
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Plant residues are often composted prior to use as organic amendments
or fertilisers, but in this study a new approach, referred here to as greenponics,
was evaluated, using undecomposed plant biomass as the growing
substrate and fertiliser. Cherry tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) cv.
Perinha Água Branca, were grown in 8 L pots filled with 600 g of air-dried
bahia-grass clippings (Paspalum notatum). Soil (750 g) was placed in the
centre of the pot, into which the tomato seedling was transplanted, and
on the top (1250 g) to retain the moisture in the grass. At 63 days after
transplanting, an additional 300 g of grass clippings were applied to each
pot. Three treatments were applied as microbial inoculants to support the
mineralisation of nutrients from the grass; a control (tap water) and two
types of dairy cattle wastewater, applied raw or after treatment in
a constructed wetland system. For each treatment, nine doses of 150 mL
of water/wastewater were applied manually during the experiment. The
control and the raw wastewater treatment produced 937 and 913 g
marketable fruit plant−1, respectively, yields similar to those reported in
the literature for organic cultivation of the same cultivar. Application of
the treated wastewater resulted in lower yields (811 g plant−1), indicating
that the grass clippings did not necessarily require the microbial inoculant
to release nutrients for the growth of the tomatoes. Greenponics with
grass clippings as the only source of fertiliser could be recommended as
a potential alternative for growing cherry tomatoes in pots.
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