Hydraulic characteristics of composted pig manure,perlite, and mixtures of them,and their impact on cucumber grown on bags |
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Authors: | Ola Al Naddaf Ioannis Livieratos Aristides Stamatakis Ioannis Tsirogiannis George Gizas Dimitrios Savvas |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Sustainable Agriculture, Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania, P.O. Box 85, Chania 73100, Greece;2. Faculty of Agricultural Technology, TEI of Epirus, P.O. Box 110, 47100 Arta, Greece;3. Laboratory of Vegetable Crops, Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, 11855 Athens, Greece |
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Abstract: | Composted pig manure (CPM), unmixed or in mixture with perlite, was evaluated as growing medium based on both physical characteristics and agronomic performance. The physical properties were determined in CPM, perlite (0.5–2.5 mm), and their 75:25, 50:50 and 25:75 mixtures by volume. It was found that unmixed CPM has a higher bulk density (BD) than perlite, a slightly lower air space at a suction of 10 cm, and a markedly higher content in easily available water (EAW), although the water content at a suction of 10 cm is the same in the two media. Mixing CPM with perlite by 50:50 seems to increase the actual water content and decrease the actual air content at container capacity, while the BD and the EAW score intermediate to those in the unmixed constituents. Simulation of the relative hydraulic conductivity (Kr) indicates a sharp decrease in the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity (K) of CPM, perlite and their mixtures as the media suction increases. The differences in the decrease rate of Kr between the tested substrates are rather small, with the most and least steep decrease being observed in perlite and the mixture by 50:50, respectively. The agronomic performance of CPM was assessed by growing greenhouse cucumber in bags filled with perlite up to 20 cm in height, CPM up to 10 or 20 cm in height, and their mixture by 50:50 up to the same heights as CPM. A media height of 10 cm in the bag resulted in appreciably higher yields than a height of 20 cm, regardless of the type of the substrate, while the latter had no significant effect on yield. This effect of media height was ascribed to the steep decrease in K, which was minimized in all media at higher suction levels than 10 cm, thereby severely restricting water availability in their upper layers (10–20 cm) when their height in the bag was 20 cm. |
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Keywords: | AFP air-filled porosity BD bulk density CAFP conventional air-filled porosity (air space at 10 cm suction) CC container capacity CCC conventional container capacity (water held at 10 cm suction) CPM composted pig manure EAW easily available water MRC moisture retention curve RHC relative hydraulic conductivity UHC unsaturated hydraulic conductivity WBC water buffering capacity |
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