Biological Efficiency of Basidiomycetes Fungi in Date Palm Leaf Waste Composting and Suitability as Growing Media”, hereby solemnly declare that this thesis is my own original research work done and prepared by me under the supervision of Dr. In light of the above, basidiomycetes fungi have been grown on date palm leaf litter to produce mushrooms and use the substrate used as a soil amendment.
Introduction
- Overview
- Background Information
- Problem of Statement
- Relevant Literature
- Research Purpose
- Research Motivation
- Research Questions
- Research Objectives
- Research Significance
- Limitation of the Scope
The date palm is one of the most widespread trees worldwide and the economic and socio-cultural importance of the date palm. Date palm compost has properties in common with peat moss such as cation exchange capacity (CEC), pH, electrical conductivity (EC) and organic carbon content.
Literature Review
Introduction
Date Palm
The date palm is a dioecious plant, so there are two types of date palm flowers, and these two flowers are seen on separate trees. The fruit of the date palm is called dates, which contains many nutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, many vitamins and phytochemicals that have potential health benefits such as lowering cholesterol levels, acting as antioxidants, protecting against cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease (Al-Alawi et al., 2017).
Date Palm in UAE
Date palm leaves are called fronds, they are compound leaves that resemble a feather in shape and grow around the trunk, the mature leaf is between 3 and 6 meters long and the width is 0.5 meters. Red palm weevil (RPW) is one of the major problems in date palm cultivation in the UAE and neighboring countries, where a lot of money and effort is spent annually to reduce its infection (El-Juhany, 2010; Rocha et al., 2018).
Importance of Date Palm
Watermelon
It also indicated that the quality and quantity of tomato plants grown in the organic media were better than those in the inorganic media.
Sweet Melon
Growing Media
Coconut peat is from coconut trees located in certain geographical areas, so a lot of money is spent every year to import coconut peat (Barrett et al., 2016; Shirani, 2013). The date palm belongs to the same family as the coconut, so it has qualities that are very similar to the coconut, so date peat can be an alternative to coconut peat in the future due to the spread of date palms in many countries of the world (Olympious, 1992).
Plant Waste Compost
Recently, coconut peat has become one of the most common growing substrates, which improves the soil, which is characterized by an increase in the capacity of water content, pore space, and also has different properties than peat moss, that coconut peat has low bulk density, low shrinkage, and slow biodegradation compared to peat moss (Radhouani et al., 2015; Meena et al., 2017; Blok & Wever, 2008). Organic fertilizers (animal or vegetable) provide the nutrients that the plant needs for growth, where it increases the proportion of macronutrient elements, which are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, as well as micronutrient elements, such as calcium, iron, sulfur and other elements. In addition to improving soil structure by increasing organic matter called humus, which is a spongy, black, or brown substance, organic fertilizers help increase the soil's ability to hold water and air.
The plant compost quality varies from one plant to another; the decomposition process and conditional factor affect the quality of the organic fertilizer (Silva et al., 2018; Edwards . & Araya, 2011; Karbout et al., 2019).
Plant Waste Compositing
During the decomposition process, heat is generated, which is trapped in the compost pile. The temperature of the compost pile rises in a few days when the amount of carbon and oxygen is sufficient and the compost pile is well insulated from the environment. The ideal amount of water in compost is 60 to 80 percent, depending on the type of compost.
Water should be kept to 40 to 60 percent of the compost weight, water is added externally to the compost pile, but that is not the only source of water, it is also produced as organic material during the composting process, the percentage of moisture in the compost will decrease during composing.
Date Palm Waste
Date Palm Waste Compost
The use of 30 tons of date palm tree compost as organic fertilizer on 1 hectare cultivated with alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) caused a significant increase in organic matter and water retention capacity of the soil and decreased the electrical conductivity (70%) compared to control soil samples . This study also showed the effect of applied date palm tree compost on the alfalfa plant, while the date palm compost increased the yield, growth rate and the absorption of the macro elements (Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium) by the alfalfa plant. (Benabderrahim et al., 2018). The application of date palm waste compost as a medium increased the germination percentage of tomato seeds, improved the plant root elongation rate and improved the tomato seedling growth (Abid et al., 2018).
The mixture of wheat straw and date palm waste in a ratio of 25 (date palm): 75 (wheat straw) improved plant growth, increased total yield, number of fruits, average fruit weight, also wheat and date palm mix were rich in fiber, carbohydrate, protein and minerals such as potassium (K), sodium (Na), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca) and zinc (Zn), which are very important to improve soil properties (Alananbeh et al., 2014).
Date Palm Leaves Compost
The study showed that the growth characteristics of the fig trees were significantly influenced by compost treatments of date palm leaves. These results are achieved due to the role of date palm leaf compost in improving soil qualities, increasing soil nutrients and reducing soil pH, making the absorption process easier for the plant, and subsequently improving growth parameters (Al-Hadethi et al., 2019 ). The results of this study confirmed the role of compost in general and date palm leaf compost in reducing plant infection by root diseases via improving soil chemical, physical and biological properties, also by increasing growth (Abdel-Monaim et al., 2017) ) .
The best mixing medium for the cultivation of Dahlia, Marigold, Zinnia, namely date palm leaves, compost with vermiculite in a ratio of 1:2, where this mixture improved plant growth compared to other mixtures (Ali, 2011).
Milky White Mushroom
The result of this study is for the application of compost from date palm waste and goat manure, so the effect of using date palm compost may be obscured. The method of making date palm compost involved mixing date palm waste with cow dung. This study was conducted on one-year-old fig plants and it did not help us to investigate the effect of date palm compost on fig fruit production.
This study was conducted on one-year-old fig plants and it did not help us to investigate the effect of date palm compost and.
Materials and Methods
- Introduction
- Experimental Site
- Experimental Set-Up and Growth Conditions
- Field Layout
- Planting
- Salinity (EC) and Acidity (pH) Measurement in Growing Medium
- Water Holding Capacity Measurement in Growing Medium
- C/N Ratio Measurements
- Measurement of Element Concentration in the Substrates
- Growth Parameters
- Determination of Chlorophyll and Carotenoid
- Determination of Total Soluble Solids (TSS)
- Determination of Reducing Sugar
- Determination of Total Sugar
- Devices Used in this Thesis
- Experimental Design and Data Analysis
Statistical analysis of the data was based on analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). The steps for measuring the pH and EC of the substrates are: 100 g of each substrate was weighed and placed in a bottle, adding 100 ml of distilled water to each. Total soluble solids (TSS) is one of the most important quality criteria that determines the sweetness of the product.
Data were tested using statistical analysis of the results were based on ANOVA for control data with subsampling.
Results
Measurement of Salinity (EC) and Acidity (pH) of the Growing
Water Holding Capacity of the Growing Mediums
C/N Ratio of the Growing Mediums
Measurement of Element Concentrations in the Growing Mediums
Growth Rate
- Plant Height
- Leaves Number
- Flower Number
Initially, the watermelon (6.4) and sweet melon (6.25) had the highest number of leaves per plant when grown in peat moss. But after one month, watermelon and sweet melon in organic compost showed an increase in the number of leaves, followed by peat moss, WOM and DPLC (Figures 15 and 16). By observing the ANOVA analysis of Tables 12 and 13, there is significant difference between the number of leave counts affected from growth mediums because the p-value is less than 0.05.
The number of flowers in watermelons is high when grown in DPLC compared to peat moss and vice versa in sweet melon (Figures 17 and 18).
Measurement of Element Concentration in the Plant Tissues
Sweet melons in DPLC showed the highest concentration of elements (Ca, Mg and Fe) and sweet melons grown in WOM showed low concentration of Na, P, S and Zn. The concentration of K and P was high in sweet melon fruits planted in peat moss as a growth medium (Table 17). The results showed that the highest content of Ca, Co, Cu, Fe and Mn was found in sweet melon shoots treated with DPLC.
In peat moss, sweet melon shoots showed a high concentration of Zn, while roots had a low Na content.
Fruits Production
Watermelon shoots had a high Na and roots had a low content of Ca, K and Mg in organic compost (Tables 20 and 21).
Plants Biomass
Fruits Size
Fruits Biomass
Chlorophyll and Carotenoid Contents
- Chlorophyll Contents
- Carotene Contents
The ANOVA result showed that there was a significant difference between the total carotene content in watermelon and sweet melon grown on four different substrates with a p-value less than 0.05 as shown in Table 32 below. Carotene content of watermelon plants in another growing substrate indicated that watermelons in DPLC contained the highest amount of total carotene (0.27 mg/g), followed by those in organic compost (0.269 mg/g), peat moss (0.23 mg/g) and WOM ( 0.21 mg/g). (Figure 27). The carotene content in sweet melon was the same as the carotene content in watermelon.
Fruit Firmness
Total Soluble Solids (TSS) in Fruits
Total Sugar in Fruits
Watermelon grown in DPLC had the highest fruit total sugar content (8.9 g/50 g), and fruit grown in organic compost had the highest reducing sugar content (53.3%). The highest percentage of reducing sugar was 53.6%, which was the case for fruits planted in peat moss. On the other hand, fruits in WOM showed the lowest value of total sugar (4 g/50 g). The highest percentage of reducing sugar was 53.6%, which was the case for fruits planted in peat moss.
Evidence of watermelon and sweet melon growth at 80 days and maturity at 100 days are shown in Figures 33 and 34, respectively.
Discussion
2014) showed that the water-holding capacity of date palm residues used as cultivation media was 18.72%. Effect of mixing palm leaf compost (DPLC) with vermiculite, perlite, sand and clay on vegetative growth of Dahlia (Dahlia pinnata), Marigold (Tagetes erecta), Zinnia (Zinnia elegans) and Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus) plants. Use of Date Palm Leaf Compost as a Moss Substitute." American Journal of Plant Physiology.
Effect of date palm waste as growing media on the growth of tomato, Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences.
