Evaluation of containerized substrates developed from cattle manure compost and synthetic aggregates for ornamental plant production as a peat alternative

The aim of this research was to study the potential utilization of containerized substrates developed from cattle manure compost (CMC) and synthetic aggregates (SA) on the growth and nutrition composition of ornamental French marigold (Tagetes patula). Unconventional SA were produced from low productive acidic red soil with paper waste and starch waste. CMC was prepared from cattle manure and wood chips. Growth substrates were prepared by mixing CMC at the rates of 0%, 20%, 40%, 60% and 100% with SA at 100%, 80%, 60%, 40% and 0%, respectively. Peat only was used as the control. The physical and chemical characteristics of all containerized substrates were analyzed. CMC–SA based substrates showed adequate physical and chemical properties compared to peat for their use as containerized substrates in horticulture. In relation to the plant growth in peat control, plants grown in the CMC–SA based substrates reached better growth and nutrition. The highest plant height, number of flowers per plant, shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight, root length, root fresh weight and root dry weight obtained from the mixture of CMC and SA at 40% and 60% treatment were increased by 27.01%, 42.86%, 37.09%, 67.29%, 5.14%, 45.58% and 34.26%, respectively compared to peat control. The concentration of trace elements in plant tissues was far lower than the ranges considered phytotoxic for plants. Utilization of CMC and SA can be considered as alternative substrates to substitute the widely using expensive peat in horticulture.