Resumen

BARBARO¹, Lorena Alejandra et al. Chicken litter compost as substrate component. Cienc. suelo [online]. 2011, vol.29, n.1, pp.83-90. ISSN 1850-2067.

A substrate for plant cultivation is a material that, placed in a container, allows the anchorage of the root system, providing water and nutrients. Compost is one of the materials currently used in substrate formulation. A variety of compost is made from chicken litter which comes from chicken manure mixed with bedding materials. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of two kinds of chicken litter composts on the growth of Coral plants (Salvia splendens). One of the composts included horse litter in the composting process. Several mixtures with different chicken litter compost proportions were prepared with compost of pine bark and pine needle litter. Subsequently, mixtures were physically and chemically analyzed. Plants were grown in each treatment and then the following parameters were measured: stem length and diameter, fresh and dry weight of the aerial and root biomass. Bulk density, porosity and water holding capacity of all the substrates were acceptable. The pH of both chicken litter composts was greater then 6.3, and the values of the mixtures were within an acceptable range. All the mixtures exceeded 1 dS m^-1 (1+5 v/v), mainly those formulated with chicken litter compost and horse litter, in which the corresponding pure material was high in salt content. When the percentage of chicken litter compost in the mixtures was reduced, the concentration of nutrients decreased. Plants cultivated in the commercial substrate and mixtures with 20% chicken litter compost resulted with the highest aerial and root biomass weights, stem diameter and length. Therefore, composts with up to 20% chicken litter could be a viable alternative as substrate components.

Palabras clave : Composting; Dung; Ornamental plants.

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