Evaluation of compost from seaweed and fish waste as a fertilizer for horticultural use

M Illera-Vives,S Seoane Labandeira,L.M Brito,A López-Fabal,M.E López-Mosquera

doi:10.1016/j.scienta.2015.02.008

M Illera-Vives, S Seoane Labandeira + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2015.02.008

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Abstract

Composting may be an effective process for treating fish waste and drift seaweed to recover organic matter and nutrient resources and to produce fertilizers for organic agriculture. The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of this type of compost as a fertilizer in a horticultural crop rotation. A greenhouse trial was carried out to test the effects of the compost on a tomato crop and its residual effects on the succeeding lettuce crop. Different compost rates (C1, C2 and C3: 40tha−1, 50tha−1 and 66tha−1) were compared to single rates of a mineral fertilizer (M) and of a certified organic fertilizer made from dehydrated broiler litter (BL) as well as to the control treatment, which lacked fertilization (C). Tomato yield increased significantly (5.56kgplant−1) with the highest rate of compost compared to the mineral and control treatments (4.54 and 4.58kgplant−1, respectively). This increased yield was associated with an increase in the diameter and weight of the fruits. Moreover, the lettuce yield improved with compost rates C2 (395glettuce−1) and C3 (367g lettuce−1), showing a strong residual effect of the compost. This compost is suitable as organic soil fertilizer and may be recommended for improving horticultural crop yields.

Highlights

The organic matter (OM) content of soil is one of the main indicators of its quality and agronomic productivity, and the influence of OM on the physical, chemical and biological qualities of soil has been widely reported (Reeves, 1997)
The production of the broiler litter (BL)-fertilized crop was not significantly different from the C crop, it showed higher production rates, with a similar harvest to the C3-fertilized crop. This shows the beneficial effects of both organic fertilizers, which in the case of the compost could go beyond the supply of nutrients because seaweed is known to have a beneficial effect on soil kg tomato per plant
The highest lettuce yield was attained in the treatment with dehydrated broiler litter, which is consistent with the results reported by Tomato FWt (g fruit-1) Tomato yield

Summary

Introduction

The organic matter (OM) content of soil is one of the main indicators of its quality and agronomic productivity, and the influence of OM on the physical, chemical and biological qualities of soil has been widely reported (Reeves, 1997). Organic matter accumulates in soil when carbon (C) inputs exceed C outputs, and in agricultural systems, losses of OM due to mineralization generally exceed gains because of the large amounts of OM removed during crop harvesting. Organic materials have been used for centuries to counteract these losses of soil OM and to supply variable amounts of nutrients to the soil. Suitable materials for composting are found abundantly in coastal areas. One such material is fish waste, which is yielded as a by-product of fish markets and fish processing industries. Fish waste is suitable for agricultural use because it contains large amounts of nutrients, such as N, P and Ca (Illera et al, 2010). Even fish effluent can be used to irrigate cherry tomato plants (Castro et al, 2006)

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