The effect of olive pomace and seaweed extract on the growth of pepper seedling

Abstract

In recent years, environmental pollution problems have increased due to organic wastes. The use of organic wastes as fertilizer plays an important role in reducing environmental pollution and improving the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil. This study was carried out to determine the effect of unprocessed olive pomace (OP) which is a by-product of olive oil industry and seaweed (SW) on the growth of pepper seedlings. In the study, 4 different pomace ratios (5% OP + 95% peat, 10% OP + 90% peat, 15% OP + 85% peat and 20% OP + 80% peat V:V) and 4 different SW extract doses ( 0% 0.5%, 1% and 2% ) were used. In the study, parameters such as plant height, stem diameter, leaf area, plant fresh and dry weights, and chlorophyll index were investigated. According to the results of the study, OP applications significantly decreased the stem diameter, leaf area, leaf number, leaf dry weight, stem dry weight, root dry weight, chlorophyll content, stem-root ratio and total plant dry weight, while root length increased. On the other hand, SW applications had no an important effect on plant growth but partially imporoved in the zero OP application.

Using Clean Alternatives and Reducing Reliance on Chemical Fertilizers Added to Soil to Achieve Agricultural Sustainability (Review Article)

“…This, in turn, speeds up the germination of seeds, strengthens the growth of seedlings, and boosts the root system, vegetative population, and yield [26], Seaweed extracts boost vegetative growth because they contain plant hormones and especially cytokines, which play a significant role in boosting lateral branching, and also because they contain a substance called betaine, which plays a crucial role in preventing chlorophyll decomposition in leaves. Both foliar fertilizer (applied directly to the foliage of the plant) and soil fertilizer (applied to the soil) can benefit from seaweed extracts [27,28].…”