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Dear Colleagues,

Growing media include all materials that can be used to grow plants in a variety of production systems such as greenhouse cultivation; production of ornamental plants on containers; urban agriculture; or green roofs. Peat has been traditionally used as substrate material due to the excellent combination of peat properties such as low pH, high cation exhange capacity, and adequate water holding capacity. Peat is extracted from peatlands that aproximately cover an area of 400 million ha and store more than 400 billion metric tons of carbon, being a sink for carbon dioxide. Nevertheless, peatlands can be degraded by peat extraction, drainage, or fire ocurrence, with important environmental consequences. This fact, combined with the high cost of some growing media components, is increasing the the search for sustainable growing substrates with similar physicochemical properties to traditional growing media, such as hydrochar obtained by hydrothermal carbonisation. The objective of this Special Issue is to collect innovative papers about the use of new growing media made from ecofriendly raw materials within the scope of the circular economy.

Prof. Dr. Gabriel Gascó Guerrero
Prof. Dr. Ana Méndez
Prof. Dr. Jorge Paz-Ferreiro
Guest Editors

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Keywords

growing media
circular economy
peat
biochar

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 1185 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Composted Rabbit Manure as Organic Matrix for Manufacturing Horticultural Growing Media: Composting Process and Seedling Effects

by Rangling Li, Hongyun Hao, Hui Sun, Liangju Wang and Hongying Wang

Sustainability 2022, 14(9), 5146; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14095146 - 24 Apr 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 5061

Abstract

This study investigated composted rabbit manure as an organic matrix to replace peat for manufacturing horticultural growing media, where three kinds of rabbit manures were composted with temperatures > 50 °C lasting > 7 days, with a germination index > 70%. The heavy metal contents in rabbit manure were far lower than the thresholds in Chinese standards for safe use as horticultural growing media. Then, different ratios of compost and peat were mixed with perlite and vermiculite to manufacture growing media, which were evaluated in a 28-day seedling experiment with cabbage. The manufactured growing media characteristics could satisfy the seedlings’ requirements; air spaces in particular were improved from 15.7% to up to 28.7% by mixing composted manure. Seedling emergence percentages > 90% and good seedling qualities (including enhanced root length, seedling height, and chlorophyll content) indicated that composted rabbit manure could effectively replace peat to manufacture horticultural growing media. The best seedling performance was obtained with the following ratio of composted manure, peat, perlite, and vermiculite: 3:3:2:2. However, the mixing ratio could be further optimized, and other methods to reduce the salinity may be required for the different requirements of specific crops in further research. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Growing Media for Agriculture)

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14 pages, 2365 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Biochar and Biochar–Compost Mix on Growth, Performance and Physiological Responses of Potted Alpinia zerumbet

by Faisal Zulfiqar, Xiangying Wei, Narmeen Shaukat, Jianjun Chen, Ali Raza, Adnan Younis, Muhammad Nafees, Zainul Abideen, Abbu Zaid, Nadeem Latif, Muhammad Naveed and Kadambot H. M. Siddique

Sustainability 2021, 13(20), 11226; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132011226 - 12 Oct 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2342

Abstract

Container crop production has become increasingly popular over the last 50 years. A major component of container or potting media is peat. Peatlands are a natural carbon sink, and peat is a nonrenewable natural resource. Peat harvesting has become an important environmental issue. There is a growing effort to explore alternative organic materials to completely or partially replace peat as a medium component. Biochar is a carbon-rich product that has gained increasing interest as a component of growing media. In the present study, biochar was produced from rice straw. Peat/perlite/biochar (PPB; 40/30/30 v/v) and peat/perlite/biochar/vermicompost (PPBC; 30/30/35/5 v/v) were evaluated relative to a basal or control medium of peat/perlite (PP; 70:30 v/v). Alpinia (Alpinia zerumbet ‘Variegata Dwarf’) was used as a test plant. Amending biochar and biochar–compost mix increased the pH of the growing media. Hydrophysical properties including container capacity, bulk density, air space and total porosity were all within or near the standard ranges for soilless growing media. Chlorophyll a and b contents of A. zerumbet plants grown in PPB medium were reduced by more than 20% and 28%, respectively, compared to those grown in PP or PPBC media. The net photosynthetic rate of PPB-grown plants was more than 28% lower than those grown in PP and PPBC media. As a result, shoot and root dry weights of plants produced in PPB medium were more than 42% and 22% less, respectively, than those grown in PP and PPBC media. Although visual quality of PPB-grown plants was lower, they still exhibited marketable quality, which was largely due to the fact that their side shoots, leaf numbers, leaf areas, leaf thickness, and shoot diameters were comparable to those produced in PP and PPBC media. The present study showed that in a peat/perlite basal medium, substitution of peat by biochar derived from rice straw at 30% affected the growth of A. zerumbet plants, mainly in dry matter accumulation, but the plants were still marketable. On the other hand, plants grown in the same basal medium with peat replaced by the biochar at 35% plus an amendment of compost at 5% were comparable to those grown in the control medium. As the value of ornamental plants depends on their aesthetic appearance, a potting medium comprised of peat/perlite/biochar/vermicompost at 30/30/35/5 by volume is recommended for the production of A. zerumbet plants. The substitution of peat at 35% suggests that peat use can be reduced in the formulation of potting media, thus contributing to the conservation of peatlands. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Growing Media for Agriculture)

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