Rockwool is one of the most commercially used substrates in soilless cultivation that usually imported, with high cost. Furthermore, Rockwool is an inorganic material that has no proper waste processing by the end of the growing season. So, there is an arrogant need to look for alternative cheap/locally material that could be used as growing substrates. Date Palm Waste is low cost and locally available substrate in a large quantity since Date production is a big industry in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, this project investigates the effect of mixing date palm waste with perlite in comparison with the single substrate (Date Palm Waste, Perlite, Rockwool and Coco-peat) on tomato growth and yield in comparison with commercial soilless substrates
Experiment History
Six growing media treatments were used:
- Date Palm Waste 25 mm (100%).
- Date Palm Waste 25 mm + Perlite (50/50) % (V/V)
- Date Palm Waste 25 mm + Perlite (75/25) % (V/V)
- Perlite (100%)
- Rockwool
- Coco-Peat (100%)
| Planting date | 24-Feb-2020 |
|---|---|
| First Harvest | 29-Apr-2020 |
| Until | 29-Nov-2020 |
| Harvesting Period [d] | 215 |
| Harvesting Period [wk] | 31 |
| Number of Harvests | 50 |
- Comparing the potential of using locally available date palm waste with other commercial soilless substrates
- Testing different mixture rates of date palm waste with perlite
- Effect of different substrates on tomato crop yield
- Date Palm Waste 25 mm (100%).
- Date Palm Waste 25 mm + perlite (50/50) % (V/V)
- Date Palm Waste 25 mm + perlite (75/25) % (V/V)
- Perlite (100%)
- Rockwool
- Coco-peat (100%)
Date Palm Waste material is a good alternative cheap/local soilless substrate that resulted equal tomato yield in comparison to rockwool and perlite
- Date Palm Waste resulted in equal tomato yield in comparison to Rockwool and perlite
- Mixing Date palm waste with different perlite ratios did not affect tomato yield
Mixing Date Palm Waste with different perlite ratios did not affect tomato yield
