Vermicompost leachate use for the irrigation of two south american woody plant species

BASÍLICO, GABRIEL; MAGDALENO, ANAHÍ; BASÍLICO, GABRIEL; MAGDALENO, ANAHÍ; COGOLLO-RUEDA, MAURICIO; DE CABO, LAURA; COGOLLO-RUEDA, MAURICIO; DE CABO, LAURA; LÓPEZ, ROMINA; MONTENEGRO, LUZ; LÓPEZ, ROMINA; MONTENEGRO, LUZ

Contaminants in Agriculture

Springer

Lugar: Cham; Año: 2020; p. 423 - 434

The process of vermicomposting organic waste generates leachate, a by-product that can be used for irrigation. In the present research, different dilutions of vermicomposting leachate were used for the irrigation of Austroeupatorium inulifolium and Erythrina crista-galli seedlings, two ornamental, woody species native to South America. Leachate dilutions were 5% and 10% (L5% and L10%, E. crista-galli) or 10% (L10%, A. inulifolium). In addition, two commercial liquid fertilizers were tested in E. crista-galli bioassay. In both assays the plants were irrigated with deionized water for a control. The pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and organic matter content (OM%) of substrate seedlings were measured before and after irrigation with the different solutions. The growth of plants was assessed by means of height, stem diameter, aerial tissues, and root and total fresh weights. The phytotoxicity of the leachate and its dilutions were evaluated by means of the Allium cepa test. In both assays the plants were irrigated with deionized water for a control. The growth of plants of both species does not show statistically significant differences with respect to the control, but total biomass of A. inulifolium was higher in L10% treatment. On the other hand, there were no observable symptoms of phytotoxicity in any of the plants, although the test of A. cepa showed a lower germination percentage and a higher percentage of micronuclei in the dilutions of leachate.