Study of fat compost from dairy industry wastewater as a new substrate for peper (capsicum annuum L.) crop

Abstract

tThe aim of this study was to analyze the impact of different doses of compost obtained from fats waste ofdairy industry mixed with commercial peat-based substrate and with soil on pepper plants development.Furthermore, this investigation attempted to determine the effects of these mixtures on germination andcomposition of pepper fruits. Fat compost (FC) was obtained by aerobic composting from dairy industrywastewaters mixed with wood chips and green grass. FC extract resulted free of phytotoxicity for seedgermination, obtained 99.71% the relative seed germination and 74.10% of germination index. Differentgrowing media were prepared by mixing 0, 10, 20 and 40% of FC with commercial substrate (CS) orSoil in two different experiments. Results showed that the application of FC on CS and Soil respectively,increased plant dry matter. On pepper seedling FC 40 achieves 250 mg plant−1DM. Moreover, higherdoses of FC improved yield and several characteristics of fruit as dry matter, diameter and concentrationsof some carotenoids. The incorporation of FC did not increase the heavy metals concentration of pepperfruit. At leaves, the highest concentrations of N were reached shown on treatment with FC (Soil: 1.46%,FC 10: 1.92%, FC 20: 2.00%, FC 40: 2.09%). Application of FC for germination and development of pepperplants improved the seedlings, fruit yield and quality.