Tomato waste compost as an alternative substrate to peat moss for the production of vegetable seedlings |
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| Authors: | Hesham Abdel-Razzak Mohamed Rashwan Ronnele Fulleros Mansour Ibrahim |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Plant Production, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia;2. Department of Vegetable Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt;3. Department of Agricultural Engineering, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia;4. Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt |
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| Abstract: | Different proportions of tomato waste compost (TWC) were combined with peat moss and vermiculite as growth substrates used to evaluate the quality of seedlings of economic vegetables, including tomato, hot pepper, cucumber and summer squash. The seeding substrates used were: (T0), vermiculite: peat moss: TWC (4: 1: 0, by weight), 0% TWC; (T1), vermiculite: peat: TWC (4: 0.75: 0.25), 5% TWC; (T2), vermiculite: peat: TWC (4: 0.5: 0.5), 10% TWC; (T3), vermiculite: peat: TWC (4: 0.25: 0.75), 15% TWC; and (T4), vermiculite: peat: TWC (4: 0: 1), 20% TWC. The best seedling response was recorded in substrate mixtures supplemented with 5% and 10% TWC, which hastened seed germination and improved seedling morphology. Since vegetable seedlings produced with TWC-amended substrate were of higher quality, compared to those produced exclusively on peat substrate, we suggest that TWC may be used to replace partially peat-based substrate used for vegetable transplants production in nurseries. |
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| Keywords: | compost quality cucurbits growing substrates seed germination seedling morphology vegetable nurseries |
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