vermicompost use in greenhouse production: nutrient management and disease suppression allison l h...
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Vermicompost Use In Greenhouse Production:
Nutrient Management And Disease Suppression
Allison L H JackDr. Eric B. Nelson’s Laboratory Group
Long Island Ag Forum 1-14-10
Overview
1. What is vermicompost?2. Nutrient management3. Disease suppression4. Conclusions and future directions
1. What is vermicompost?
Liability Asset
Dairy operationVegetable/ fruit
grower
$
Excess manure: Synthetic inputs:
$
Environmentalproblem
$
Environmentalproblem
Vermicompost and sustainable agriculture
Thermophilic compost
• Static aerated (indoor)• Windrows (outdoor)• 6-9 months curing• Relies primarily on action
of microbes
Vermicompost
• Usually follows a hot composting step
• Worm beds (indoor)• Windrows (outdoor)• Entire process: ~70 days
Earthworms “farm” microbes
microbesOrganicmatter
INPUT
cast
OUTPUT
Decomposed more available nutrients
[Swift 1979]
The soil ‘sleeping beauty paradox’
[Lavelle et al. 1995, Brown et al. 2000]
Properties of end products • Equivalent total N• Vermicompost can have up to 2 x NO3
- (plant available) ~700 mg kg-1
• Unique plant-associated microbial communities
• Vermicompost is re-wettable and a finer texture
• Vermicompost can have more highly humified organic matter
2. Nutrient management
Factors affecting growth media performance
• Nutrient levels– Plant availability – slow release
• Electrical conductivity [EC] (salts)• Water holding capacity – drainage• Phytotoxicity – germination• pH• ‘Wetability’
Organic tomato trialsSUN Industry standard: peat-based potting mix
with turkey litter compost & blood meal
BASE Negative control: 70:30 (v:v) mixture of sphagnum peat moss and vermiculite
TC Composted dairy manure solids (20%v/v)RT Solutions
VC Vermicomposted dairy manure solids (20% v/v)RT Solutions
SM1 Sesame meal (1% v/v)
SM2.5 Sesame meal (2.5% v/v)
AM5 Alfalfa meal (5%)
[Jack, Sooksa-Nguan, Culman, Rangarajan, Thies in press]
Chemical characteristics
Media pHEC
dS m-1
N%
NO3-N mg kg-1
NH4- N mg kg-1
Pmg kg-1
K mg kg-1
Organic C % C:N
BASE SUN TC05 VC05 AM5 SM1 SM2.5
7.06.07.16.76.16.56.4
0.680.951.431.864.020.740.75
0.640.731.211.331.421.261.91
38 361 67
721 13
213 169
9296 60 92 89 75 79
42220997779686543
1,259
642 322
3,989 2,462
10,805 1,004 1,551
35.733.330.832.533.029.332.2
55.645.825.424.423.323.316.9
In GH At Transplanting Mid-season
MediaPercent germination
Fresh Wt g plant-1
Dry Wt g plant-1
Fresh Wtg plant-1
Dry Wt g plant-1
BASESUNTC05VC05AM5SM1
SM2.5
96 a95 a96 a96 a60 b95 a91 a
0.13 e1.52 d0.74 e2.32 c2.44 bc3.17 ab3.89 a
0.02 e0.23 d0.11 e0.37 ab0.27 cd0.43 a0.33 bc
115 f561 e615 de738 bc693 cd819 b969 a
12 e58 d62 d77 bc72 c83 b101 a
Media
Early yield (ha-1) Marketable yield (ha-1)
Fruit #1000’s
Yield MT Av. Fruit Wt g
Fruit #1000’s
Yield MT
Av. Fruit Wt g
BASESUNTCVCAM5SM1SM2.5
9.16 d 85.79 bc 69.06 c119.67 a102.84 ab112.41 ab117.07 a
2.66 d22.91 bc19.67 c33.32 a 26.83 abc28.62 ab30.17 ab
285 a252 bc257 b255 bc242 cd232 d232 d
116.4 c288.1 ab284.0 b332.7 ab315.4 ab340.1 a 330.1 ab
32.8 b 72.7 a72.9 a84.6 a76.2 a79.0 a76.7 a
285 a252 bc257 b255 bc242 cd232 d232 d
Transplant biomass & yield
Soluble nutrients can leach
20% Vermicompost20% Vermicompost
& fish emulsion
Mixtures of amendments
• Out of 21 media tested, hog and dairy manure vermicomposts at 20% with a mixture of blood meal, green sand and rock phosphate performed the best with tomato [Leonard & Rangarajan 2007]
• May make nutrients in synthetic fertilizers more plant available [Mattson in progress]
Cabbage trials
• Organic materials rely on microbial activity to mineralize nutrients and make them plant available - results are temperature sensitive
Control Blood meal
10% VC10% VC& BM
[Rangarajan, Leonard & Jack, ongoing]
Vermicompost is added to tops of plug trays, aerated vermicompost extract is piped directly into overhead irrigation
2008
Aerated compost extract
• Expensive equipment ($20,000)
• No shelf life• Additives needed
• Cheap equipment ($250)• Long shelf life• No additives needed
Non-aerated compost extract
sump
[Elzinga Hoeksema Nurseries, MI]
100 gallon tubTimerSump pump(circulates 2x a day)
Nutrient NVEScott’s 20-10-20
Units100 ppm N 200 ppm Nammonium N 2.600 40 80 ppmnitrate N 13.313 60 120 ppmP 66.667 22 44 ppmK 293.333 83 166 ppmCa 46.667 0 0 ppmMg 10.000 0.75 1.5 ppmS 20.000 0 0 ppmNa 56.117 0 0 ppmAl 2.663 0 0 ppmFe 7.613 0.25 0.5 ppmMn 0.267 0.125 0.25 ppmCu 0.703 0.0625 0.125 ppmZn 1.147 0.125 0.25 ppmB 0.0625 0.125 ppmMo 0.025 0.05 ppm
[with N. Mattson]
3. Disease suppression
Vermicomposts can protect plants from disease
• Multiple cases documented in scientific literature
• But, suppression depends on:– Amendment rate– Type of feedstock– Temperature– Presence of synthetic fertilizers– Potting media substrate
Crop Pathogen
tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum)Phytophthora nicotianae var. nicotianae
tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum)Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. Lycopersici
cabbage (Brassica oleracea cv. 'Ditmarska')
Plasmodiophora brassicae
tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum cv. 'Remiz')
Phytophthora nicotianae var. nicotianae
tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum cv. 'Remiz')
Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici
chickpea (Cicer arietinum cv. ‘Avrodhi’) Sclerotium rolfsii
cucumber (Cucumis sativus cv. "Marketmore 76')
Pythium irregulare
Pythium ultimum
cabbage (Brassica oleracea cv. 'Cheers') Rhizoctonia solani
tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) Nacobbus aberrans
[Jack in press]
It works…sometimes
• Scientists don’t understand enough of how it works to predict if a compost will be suppressive or not
• This is a major barrier to effective us of these materials for disease management
• Cornell Soil Health program has developed soil testing that takes a more holistic approach i.e. beyond N-P-K
What do we know?
• Single organism biological control is well understood in specific cases
• Suppression of disease by a complex community of microbes is much more complicated!
Example: Pythium spp. (damping off)
Post-emergence damping off
[www.ipmimages.org]
A. Jack Cornell University 2008
vegetative hyphae
sporangium
germinating sporangium
zoosporangium zoospores
antheridium
oogonium
oogonium oospore
Germinatingoospore
asexual
sexual
direct
indirect
DISEASE
[modified from Matthews 1931]
P. aphanidermatum
Mechanisms of biocontrol
• Single organism: – Antibiosis– Competition for nutrients– Parasitism– Induced systemic resistance
Antibiosis
Root surface Bacillus subtilis“Kodiak TM”
Zwittermicin A (antibiotic)
[Shang et al. 1999]
Pythium zoospore
Competition for nutrients
Seed exudates
Cucumber seed
Linoleic acid
Pythium sporangium
[van Dijk and Nelson 2000]
Enterobacter cloacae
Linoleic acid
Pythium sporangium
Induced Systemic Resistance (ISR)
Pseudomonas corrugata Pythium
sporangium
[Chen et al. 2000]
Parasitism
www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/biocontrol/pathogens/trichoderma
Multiple organism biocontrol
• Often associated with high microbial biomass and activity
• Unclear which organisms are involved and how they interact with each other
• Goal: – Understand how disease suppression works in a
single system so we can make the practice more effective
Solid vermicompost
• Simple feedstock + process control = more consistent product
• OMRI listed• Potting media
amendment– 5-20% depending on crop
Liquid vermicompost extract
• Soil drench applied when irrigating
• Can provide comparative levels of suppression with 2000 x less compost
• Can be freeze dried and reconstituted
Zoospore pre-infection events
A. Jack Cornell University 2008
The Spermosphere
Pythiumzoospore
cucumber seed
Seed exudates
Shoot height (mm)
0 30 60 90 120 150
[Chen & Nelson 2008]
Pythiuminoculation
Sand Suppressive compost
a7d
a8h 7d
b8h 7d
b7d
Non-inoculated a7d
Seed Microbes
a7d
Conclusions• Vermicomposts are:
– a valuable component in organic potting media for nutrient management
– cultural practice for suppressing disease • Scientific understanding is not at a level
where we can make predictions for specific composts
• Consider collaborating with regional researchers to further develop these practices
Acknowledgements
Nelson Lab:Mary Ann KarpEric CarrMonica MinsonEllen CrockerSarah ArnoldDave Moody
My committee:Eric Nelson (PPPMB)Anthony Hay (MICRO)Anu Rangarajan (HORT)Kathie Hodge (PPPMB)Scott Peters (EDUC)
Financial support:
Department of Plant Pathology and Plant Microbe Biology
USDA BARD
Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines
New York Farm Viability Institute
NYSTAR Center for Advanced Technology & USDA SBIR Phase I & II (with Worm Power)
Organic Farming Research Foundation
Organic Crop Improvement Association
Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship
Kent Loeffler – photo credits
SBIR Program
Industry collaborator: Tom Herlihy Worm Power