PERSPECTIVE

Compost Science & Utilization, (2008), Vol. 16, No. 2, 71

Real World Applications Of Laboratory Research

AROUND the globe, drought, water quality and unproductive soils make the headlines with increasing frequency these days. In many cases, the news stories are about worldwide food shortages resulting from these conditions. A recent report on a United Nations' meeting in Rome discussed the need for international aid in the form of seed and fertilizer to expand agricultural production. But what about compost?

Increasingly, food shortages are tied to drought, or soils that have been over-farmed and are under-nourished in terms of organic matter. In many of these countries, there also are severe water quality issues related to direct discharge of human and animal waste into rivers. And every country in the world generates garbage, a good portion of which contains organic waste. The point is that along with distribution of seed and fertilizer, there should be technical assistance and start-up funds to convert organic wastes to compost, which in turn can be used to regenerate soils and retain moisture.
In almost every issue of Compost Science and Utilization, papers address some aspect of making compost connections a reality. The first paper in this issue, “Tropical Earthworm Biomass and Density Production” (pages 74-82), discusses methods to increase earthworm populations in tropical soils (in this case, Mexico). Analyses were conducted on the relationship between the feeding regime of the earthworm species used and nutrients and organic matter levels in the castings. The real-world relevance is that farmers can increase crop productivity by establishing earthworm populations in their soils.
The second paper, “Seaweed Compost as an Amendment for Horticultural Soils in Patagonia, Argentina” (pages 119-124), reports on the findings of laboratory and field trials using seaweed composts at different doses and degrees of maturation on the yield of tomatoes. Note the authors, “Interest in use of seaweed in composts increased in the last decades due to an unusual increase in algal biomass, particularly that from green seaweeds, resulting from the progressive eutrophication of some coastal ecosystems …. On the coast of Puerto Madryn in northeastern Patagonia, seaweed biomass is periodically cast ashore and constitutes a serious problem during summer months. The local municipality collects tons of this biomass and throws it inland without any treatment.” The authors developed a composting program, with one of the field experiments conducted in a nearby horticultural area “where there is a general consensus among farmers that soil fertility has progressively declined and the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides is increasing.” The authors found that total weight and number of tomatoes and plant biomass were significantly higher for the compost treatments.
The third paper, “Growth and Transpiration of Tomato Seedlings Grown In Hazlenut Husk Compost Under Water-Deficit Stress” (pages 125-131), tested compost use in growing media of greenhouse tomatoes in Turkey. The authors found that for tomato seedling growth, 25 percent and 50 percent composted hazelnut husk (a crop residue that primarily gets wasted) can be used in mixtures with peat as a growing media component under water stress conditions.
These researchers accumulated their findings through laboratory and field experiments. In each case, however, the results illustrate the real-world applications of their research - and the critical need to connect composting and compost as solutions to global crises. - Jerome Goldstein

Copyright 2007, The JG Press, Inc.