Evaluation of physicochemical properties and enzymatic activity of organic substrates during four crop cycles in soilless containers

Background Organic soilless production in containers requires substrates with appropriate physicochemical and biological properties to ensure that production is sustainable and profitable for several production cycles. The main objective of this study was to comprehensively evaluate these properties...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Food science & nutrition 2018-11, Vol.6 (8), p.2066-2078
Main Authors: Guerra, Pedro A. Mejia, Salas Sanjúan, Maria del Carmen, López, Maria J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acid phosphatase
Agricultural production
Agriculture
Anions
Bacteria
Biological properties
Bulk density
Cations
Chemical properties
Climate change
coconut fiber
Composting
Containers
Crop production
Crops
dehydrogenase
Enzymatic activity
Enzymes
Glucosidase
Horticultural crops
Inorganic compounds
Microbiota
Microorganisms
Nitrates
Nitrogen
Nitrophenol
Nutrient availability
Nutrients
Organic chemistry
Organic matter
Organic soils
Original Research
Phosphatase
Physicochemical properties
Salinity
Soilless farming
substrate reuse
Substrates
vermicompost
Vermicomposting
Worms
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Summary:Background Organic soilless production in containers requires substrates with appropriate physicochemical and biological properties to ensure that production is sustainable and profitable for several production cycles. The main objective of this study was to comprehensively evaluate these properties in three different mixtures of organic substrates (vermicompost [V] and coconut fibers [CF] in ratios 20V80CF, 40V60CF, 60V40CF) for four horticultural crop production cycles (PCs) using vermicompost tea (VT) as the main source of nutrients. Results Readily available water (25%) in the control treatment (20V80CF) was below the recommended limit, and dry bulk density (>450 g/L) surpassed the recommended limit in the 60V40CF treatment (p 
ISSN:2048-7177
2048-7177
DOI:10.1002/fsn3.757