Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Agrarie, Alimentari, Ambientali e Forestali, Università di Firenze, Firenze, Italy.
Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla, IRNAS-CSIC, Seville, Spain.
J Sci Food Agric. 2024 Feb;104(3):1609-1620. doi: 10.1002/jsfa.13045. Epub 2023 Oct 25.
Despite the optimal characteristics of peat, more environmental-friendly materials are needed in the nursery sector, although these must guarantee specific quantitative and qualitative commercial standards. In the present study, we evaluated the influence of biochar and compost as peat surrogates on yield and essential oil profile of two different varieties of basil (Ocimum basilicum var. Italiano and Ocimum basilicum var. minimum). In two 50-day pot experiments, we checked the performances of biochar from pruning of urban trees and composted kitchen scraps, both mixed in different proportions with commercial peat (first experiment), and under different nitrogen (N) fertilization regimes (second experiment), in terms of plant growth and volatile compounds profile of basil.
Total or high substitution of peat with biochar (100% and 50% v.v.) or compost (100%) resulted in seedling death a few days from transplantation, probably because the pH and electrical conductivity of the growing media were too high. Substrates with lower substitution rates (10-20%) were underperforming in terms of plant growth and color compared to pure commercial peat during the first experiment, whereas better performances were obtained by the nitrogen-fertilized mixed substrates in the second experiment, at least for one variety. We identified a total of 12 and 16 aroma compounds of basil (mainly terpenes) in the two experiments. Partial replacement of peat did not affect basil volatile organic compounds content and composition, whereas N fertilization overall decreased the concentration of these compounds.
Our results support a moderate use of charred or composted materials as peat surrogates. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.
尽管泥煤具有最佳特性，但苗圃行业仍需要更环保的材料，尽管这些材料必须保证特定的定量和定性商业标准。在本研究中，我们评估了生物炭和堆肥作为泥煤替代品对两种不同罗勒（Ocimum basilicum var. Italiano 和 Ocimum basilicum var. minimum）品种产量和精油特征的影响。在两个为期 50 天的盆栽实验中，我们检查了来自城市树木修剪的生物炭和堆肥厨余垃圾的性能，它们分别以不同的比例与商业泥炭混合（第一个实验），以及在不同的氮（N）施肥制度下（第二个实验），以评估罗勒的植物生长和挥发性化合物特征。
泥炭的总替代率或高替代率（100%和 50% v/v）或堆肥（100%）导致幼苗在移栽后几天内死亡，这可能是因为生长介质的 pH 值和电导率过高。在第一个实验中，替代率较低（10-20%）的基质在植物生长和颜色方面表现不佳，与纯商业泥炭相比，而在第二个实验中，氮施肥混合基质的表现更好，至少对一种品种而言。我们在两个实验中总共鉴定出了 12 种和 16 种罗勒的香气化合物（主要是萜类化合物）。部分替代泥炭不会影响罗勒挥发性有机化合物的含量和组成，而氮施肥总体上降低了这些化合物的浓度。
我们的结果支持适度使用碳化或堆肥材料作为泥煤替代品。
