TY - JOUR

T1 - First steps toward a test procedure to identify peat substitutes for growing media by means of chemical, physical and biological material characteristics

AU - Leiber-Sauheitl, Katharina

AU - Bohne, Heike

AU - Böttcher, Jürgen

N1 - Funding Information: This research was funded by Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, Germany, and the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer protection of Lower Saxony, Germany. The publication of this article was funded by the Open Access Fund of the Leibniz Universit?t Hannover, Germany.Acknowledgments: The author wishes to thank Gebrueder Brill GmbH for providing the raw materials and substrates and Olde Bolhaar for composting. We thank Gebrueder Brill GmbH, G?rtnerei Schulze Eckel, Baumschule zur M?hlen, and Gartenbau Kupke for cooperation during the tests under practical conditions. We are grateful to the technical staff of the Institute of Soil Science in Hannover for laboratory assistance.

PY - 2021/7

Y1 - 2021/7

N2 - Due to the major environmental impact of peat-based growing media production and the need of lowering greenhouse gas emissions in all sectors, a wider application of peat substitutes in growing media is requested. All peat substitutes under use have constraints associated with their properties. Therefore, a preliminary test procedure for identifying new raw materials as peat substitutes in growing media was developed and validated. By applying the preliminary test procedure, the potential limitations of cultivation of potential peat substitutes are indicated, and measures for cultivation regulation are recommended. For the development of the new preliminary test procedure, four raw materials were investigated: composted heather, alder, cattail, and reed. The preliminary test procedure comprises several material and technological criteria as well as aspects of plant cultivation, enabling the evaluation of the raw materials and the processed components for growing media. Results derived from the preliminary test procedure were checked and confirmed by experiments with horticultural crops in different sections of commercial horticulture. Within two years, the identification of new peat substitutes was possible by the application of the preliminary test procedure and its test criteria, which provide a structure for the systematic investigation of potential new peat substitutes starting with the raw material.

AB - Due to the major environmental impact of peat-based growing media production and the need of lowering greenhouse gas emissions in all sectors, a wider application of peat substitutes in growing media is requested. All peat substitutes under use have constraints associated with their properties. Therefore, a preliminary test procedure for identifying new raw materials as peat substitutes in growing media was developed and validated. By applying the preliminary test procedure, the potential limitations of cultivation of potential peat substitutes are indicated, and measures for cultivation regulation are recommended. For the development of the new preliminary test procedure, four raw materials were investigated: composted heather, alder, cattail, and reed. The preliminary test procedure comprises several material and technological criteria as well as aspects of plant cultivation, enabling the evaluation of the raw materials and the processed components for growing media. Results derived from the preliminary test procedure were checked and confirmed by experiments with horticultural crops in different sections of commercial horticulture. Within two years, the identification of new peat substitutes was possible by the application of the preliminary test procedure and its test criteria, which provide a structure for the systematic investigation of potential new peat substitutes starting with the raw material.

KW - Alder

KW - Cattail

KW - Decision tree

KW - Feasibility

KW - Growing media

KW - Heather

KW - Peat reduction

KW - Peat substitute

KW - Reed

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85109884337&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/horticulturae7070164

DO - 10.3390/horticulturae7070164

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85109884337

VL - 7

JO - Horticulturae

JF - Horticulturae

IS - 7

M1 - 164

ER -