Dados do Trabalho

Título

UTILIZATION OF BIOCHAR AS ADDITIVE OF COMPOSTING MIXTURES FOR THE DESING OF GROWING MEDIA

Resumo

The use of peat for organic growing media creates a significant ecological footprint. Sustainable materials that can replace, or reduce the use of peat, while maintaining or improving attributes in the growing media and plant growth are necessary. The use of compost has become a suitable way for reusing the organic waste produced by the agroindustry, with several aspects that represent an advantage over traditional organic substrates such as peat but also with some issues that need to be improved. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of biochar, as additive during the process of composting and end-products destinated to growing media design. Treatments, corresponding to the composting mixture (corn stalk and swine manure) as control treatment, the composting mixture and forestry biochar (450°C) at 10% or 20% v/v were evaluated. The analysis of pH, EC and water retention capacity among other were conducted. The activity of enzymes as sensitive indicators of the biological condition including fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis (FDA), acid phosphatase (acid P), urease (UA) activity was also measured. The stability and quality of the compost, through the Solvita® test and the germination index were analyzed. A significant improvement was observed in the quality of the end-compost where the water retention capacity (>400%) and germination index (>150%) increased with the addition of biochar. The application of biochar had also a significant influence on the activity of enzymes (p<0.01), promoting a rise of the activity of UA and FDA at the end of composting with the addition of biochar. The results obtained in this study suggest that the addition of biochar had significant effects on the physicochemical properties of mixture affecting the activity of microorganisms and the quality of the end-product. Therefore, we can suggest that compost with additives can be a suitable management to reduce the use of peat in the develop of growing media.

Palavras-chave

Agricultural residues, composting, horticulture, stabilization

Instituição financiadora

ANID/FONDECYT

Agradecimentos

ANID/FONDECYT initiation project N°11201107 and regular project N°1201375