Organic farming and composting

Docs en anglais | 122 pages | 03-04-2008 | Format : | Note : Non noté

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Résumé

Thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Science at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari, entitled Effect of compost and compost tea on Potato and Zucchini crops. It can be used to serve as a model for a thesis or complement your knowledge on the effects of compost and compost tea.

Abstract:

Two field experiments were conducted in the Technical Center of Organic Agriculture in Sousse, Tunisia, to study the effects of different combination of organic matters (animal manures and olive mill solid waste and waste water) used as composts and compost teas on growth, development, yield, nutrition and soil fertility of potato (cv. Spunta) and Zucchini (cv. Jedida) crops.

For both potato and zucchini crops, there was a greater agronomic effectiveness of applying composts and compost teas made from a combination of manures and olive mill wastes, with or without margine, mainly on plant stand, vegetative growth and yields. The quality of products was also improved through mineral nutrition. However, against Powdery
Mildew disease, compost teas were not well effective as the commercial biofertilizer.
The cost of production was not reduced, yet, benefits were similar to the control, suggesting the use of compost and compost teas in substitution to commercial bio-fertilizers (...)

Contents:

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 Literature Review

I) Potato crop

A. Origin and general botany
B. Biology and morphology

C. Plant requirements
1. Climatic conditions
2. Water needs
3. Soil quality

II) Summer squash crop (Zucchini)

A. Generality
B. Morphology and floral biology

C. Plant requirements
1. Temperature
2. Water
3. Soil

D. Squash pests and diseases
1. Main squash pests (Aphids)
2. Main squash virus
3. Main squash fungus diseases (Powdery mildew)

III) Organic production management

A. General aspects
1. Selection of species and varieties
2. Crop rotation
3. Biodiversity
4. Cultural practices

B. Pests and diseases control
1. Preventive measures
2. Curative measures

C. Fertilization
1. Cover cropping and intercropping
2. Green manuring
3. Green residues
4. Animal manures
5. Soil amendment
6. Commercial bio-fertilizers

IV) Compost

A. Compost definitions

B. Composting process
1. Raw materials
2. Composting phases
3. Compost requirements
4. Mature compost

C. Compost benefits on soil and plants
1. Soil
2. Plants

V) Compost tea

A. Definitions

B. Brewing methods
1. Aerobic methods
2. Anaerobic methods

C. Compost tea preparation
1. Factors affecting compost tea quality

D. Compost tea extraction

E. Compost tea benefits on soil and plants
1. Soil
2. Plants

Chapter 3 Material and Methods

I) Location

A. Experimental site
1. Climatic conditions
2. Soil characteristics

B. Material and methods
1. Soil sampling
2. Soil chemical and physical analysis

II) Plant material

A. Potato crop: “Spunta” cultivar
B. Zucchini crop: “Jedida F1” cultivar

III) First experiment: Potato crop

A. Treatments
1. Characteristics of treatments based on compost tea
2. Composts chemical composition
3. Compost teas chemical composition
4. Control treatment: Commercial bio-fertilizer (Alguadul): T11
5. Treatments application

B. Experimental design
C. Cultural practices

D. Observations
1. Agronomic parameters
2. Chemical analysis

IV) Second experiment: Zucchini crop

A. Treatments
B. Experimental design
C. Cultural practices

D. Observations
1. Agronomic parameters
2. Chemical analysis

V) Statistical analysis

Chapter 4 Results and Discussions

I) First experiment: Potato crop

A. Agronomic crop parameters
1. Plant emergence
2. Plant height
3. Potato soil cover
4. Potato plant vigour
5. Number of tubers
6. Size of tubers
7. Yields

B. Plant chemical analysis
1. Dry matter content
2. Major and minor elements content

C. Potato economic study

II) Second experiment: Zucchini crop

A. Agronomic crop parameters
1. Plant leaves number
2. Female flowers
3. Soil cover
4. Powdery mildew incidence
5. Fruit number and size
6. Yield per plant

B. Plant chemical characteristics
1. Leaf analysis
2. Stem analysis
3. Fruit analysis
4. Root analysis

C. Zucchini economic study

III) Soil fertility
A. pH
B. Organic matter content
C. Phosphorus content
D. Potassium content
E. Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu content

Chapter 5 Conclusions and Recommendations

References

Recommandations

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