The Properties of Livestock Waste Composts Tea Depending on Manufacturing Method and Their Effect on Chinese Cabbage Cultivation

Abstract

Livestock waste compost tea is a liquid extract of compost obtained by mixing livestock compost. In this study, some chemical and microbiological characteristics of compost tea depending on the kind of raw materials used were examined, and several experiments to investigate the practical effects on Chinese cabbage cultivation were conducted. This experiment showed that livestock composts needed to be added into aerated water at the ratio between 1:100 and 1:10 (1 part compost to 10~100 parts water) to produce the high quality compost tea. Compost teas must be aerated more than 24 to 48 hours to be able to support aerobic organisms. In cultivation test with compost teas, swine manure compost teas were made by the extracting ratio of 50x, in the aerated condition for 24 hours in water and oil cake in the extracting ratio of 100x were added as supplements. Following the input of oil cake, the concentration of nitrogen and aerobic bacteria increased. Another experiment was conducted to determine the effect of different swine manure compost teas on plant growth and yield of Chinese cabbage. The fresh yield of Chinese cabbage was higher in the fertigated plots by compost tea with oil cake compared to those of N, <TEX>$P_2O_5$</TEX>, <TEX>$K_2O$</TEX> fertilization plot with chemical fertilizer by soil test recommendation (Fert. NPK). The effect of compost tea on growth of Chinese cabbage was largely attributable to the increased number of microorganisms as well as nutrients.