289 Effect of Swine Effluent on Yields of Plasticulture-grown Vegetables

Abstract

Five fertilizer treatments, three of which included swine effluent alone or in combination with commercial fertilizers, were evaluated for plasticulture production of vegetables. Effluent and/or soluble fertilizers were delivered through drip irrigation tubing to their respective treatments. Four experiments were conducted at two locations: 1) spring tomatoes followed by pumpkin at Verona, Miss., 2) spring tomatoes followed by zucchini at Pontotoc, Miss., 3) fall tomato at Verona, and 4) fall tomato at Pontotoc. In all four experiments, representing six crops, yields from treatments receiving swine effluent were equal to or greater than yields from treatments receiving preplant fertilizers and/or commercially available soluble fertilizers. There were also no significant differences among treatments in relative number of marketable fruit. Leaf tissue analysis of the tomato crops showed no significant differences among treatments in N content. For some experiments, there were significant differences for other elements. These results showed that swine effluent was an effective nutrient source for plasticulture production of vegetable crops when compared to preplant and soluble fertilizers. These results also showed that the alkaline pH (about 7.8) and high level of ammonium nitrogen of swine effluent (>95 % of N content) did not adversely affect vegetable yield or marketability.