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DETERMINATION OF SLUDGE COMPOST QUALITY BY BIOASSAY
Author(s) -
Shana A.,
Hammond R.,
Johnson A.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
water and environment journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1747-6593
pISSN - 1747-6585
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-6593.2004.tb00501.x
Subject(s) - compost , germination , greenhouse , green waste , environmental science , petunia , agronomy , peat , horticulture , biology , ecology , biochemistry , gene
The paper reports the progress on a plant germination and growth trial as part of Thames Water's quality‐control procedure for sludge composting and recycling. The experiment was conducted by cultivating two types of plants in a greenhouse under controlled environmental conditions, using (a) standard peat‐based multipurpose compost, (b) Terra Eco Systems multipurpose compost, and (c) woodchip‐amended sludge compost. Tomatoes and petunias were selected for the trial, and the varieties were first‐generation (F) hybrid. Germinated seed counts were used to calculate germination percentages and germination values, to assess compost performance. Calculated germination values for tomato and petunias were 26.52 and 17.76 respectively for the peat‐based compost: the values of tomato plants for Woodchip‐amended compost and Terra Eco compost were 17.80 and 11.84 respectively; and for petunia, all composts performed similarly, with germination values ranging from 14.00 to 17.76. It was concluded that there were no significant differences between the petunia plants in three composts used in this trial.