Use of compost made from livestock manure as an organic substrate for cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) grown in greenhouse

F.-G. Schroeder and H. Sell

Abstract
Liquid manure is a growing problem for livestock farms and only inadequate methods for ecological and economical utilizations of liquid manure are currently available. Thus a method to produce compost, made from the solid component of liquid livestock manure, was developed. In the experiments described here, compost produced according to that method were tested as growing medium. Tests with Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) grown in this compost made from livestock manure were carried out during 2005 and 2006 in the research greenhouse of the University of Applied Science at Dresden.

The compost substrate was compared with a standard peat substrate. Cucumbers were grown in containers (10 L) and water and nutrients were supplied with drip irrigation. Furthermore, an inadequate oxygen concentration in the root zone is a constraint to plant growth especially in container systems with a limiting root zone, and thus an additional objective of this study was to acquire information about the gas composition in the root zone.

Results were found from yield, nutrient uptake and oxygen content in the root zone in both substrates to have no significant differences. Even though the compost substrate has a sub-optimal content of P, Mg and K, the yield and quality of cucumber were not affected.


Source
Acta Horticulturae (2009) 819: 367-372


Posted April 2010