Husks tung and pecan nut as alternative substrate for horticulture

Abstract:

A substrate is generally composed of different components such as peat, perlite, vermiculite, bark, as pine and eucalyptus, and various other wastes. The employment of waste as substrate to cultivate plants may provide alternative materials with stable structure, easy to obtain, constant availability and low cost. Therefore, we sought to describe two agro-industrial waste with potential use as a substrate for plants: crushed shells of pecan and tung decomposed aerobically and anaerobically. Materials were analyzed chemically and physical and mixed with brown peat in natura in six proportions of mixtures (100:0; 80:20; 60:40; 40:60; 20:80; 0:100). The pure material and the mixtures were analyzed for density, porosity, aeration and water availability, pH value and electrical conductivity. The waste, walnut pecan and tung husks, crushed, presented physical and chemical characteristics suitable for use as substrate, in mixtures with peat and in isolated form.

Keywords:
Aleurites sp.; Carya illinoensis; physical and chemical properties.