Successful transplant production begins with selecting good growing media. Healthy vigorous transplants will be less susceptible to insects, diseases and transplant shock, leading to improved overall crop performance. Formulating organic potting mixes is especially challenging. Organic sources of nitrogen, such as compost, can be inconsistent. Compost chemical, biological and physical character...

The objective of this work was to study the effect of sewage sludge compost on ammonia and nitrate accumulation in the olive-grove soil. This study has been conducted since 1998. To evaluate sewage sludge compost on soil-grove four treatments were set up in a clay loam soil in Seseña (Toledo, Spain). Every experiment was replicated four times. The applied treatments were sewage sludge compost (...

Compost is used mainly as an organic fertilizer, but it is also used as bedding material for cattle. Dairy cattle have been identified as a main reservoir of pathogenic Escherichia coli O157:H7. Further, E. coli is regarded as an environmental pathogen that causes bovine clinical mastitis. Hence, its growth in compost spread or compost bedding should be avoided. Physical and chemical conditions...

Compost stability and maturity are important parameters of compost quality. To date, nearly all compost characterization has been performed using samples freshly collected because sample storage can affect compost stability and maturity evaluation. However, sample preservation is sometimes necessary, especially for scientific research purposes. There is little information available on the effec...

The fungus Agaricus bisporus is commercially grown for the production of edible mushrooms. This cultivation occurs on compost, but not all of this substrate is consumed by the fungus. To determine why certain fractions remain unused, carbohydrate degrading enzymes, water-extracted from mushroom-grown compost at different stages of mycelium growth and fruiting body formation, were analyzed for t...

The effect of successive applications of urban compost (up te 150 and 400 t ha-1 during eight years) en the status ef phosphorus in a calcareous soíl (20%) was testad in a greenhouse experimento An 6-15-15 complex fertiliser was also applied for comparison. Five years of ryegrass and three of horticultural plants (tomate and eggplant) were successively cropped during the experimento Increases o...

A simple, rapid and eco-friendly method has long been needed for evaluating the compost stability because application of unstable compost in agricultural field causes phytotoxicity. Thus, the CIELAB variables L*, a*, b*, a* x b*, a* / b*, 2000a* / (L* x b*), 1000a* / (L* + b*), chroma (C*ab), hue (hab) and color difference (∆E00) in dried (70oC) and ground composting materials (particle size ≤ ...

The distribution of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB) in cattle, swine, and chicken manure compost was analyzed. PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) showed that a Candidatus Nitrososphaera gargensis-like sequence dominated in cattle manure compost, while few AOA were detected in other composts. In the case of AOB, Nitrosomonas-like sequences were detected with hi...

A flume study was conducted using a soil, yard waste compost, and an erosion control compost to investigate the response to concentrated flow and determine if the shear stress model could be used to describe the response. Yard waste compost (YWC) and the bare Cecil soil (CS) control responded to concentrated laboratory runoff similarly in rill formation, and the shear stress model was useful in...