2 research outputs found
Enzymatic activity of anthropogenic proto-organic soils in soilless farming
In soilless agriculture and horticulture coir is the more used substratum to grow plants because it is widely available
and more environmentally friendly than sphagnum or peat. In Italy, soilless agriculture concerns an area of about
1,000 hectares, particularly concentrated in Sicily. The southern coastal belt of this region is the area interested by
the most significant experiences in the application of techniques of soilless cultivation that, recently, has been used
also for growing table grapes.
Starting from the above consideration we suppose that the features of the coconut fiber underlay an evident transformation
and that even after few years of table grape cultivation, such organic material undergone to a transformation
that allows for the formation of a proto-organic soil (a proto-Histosol, we supposed). If this is true, we believe that,
in this case, to speak about soilless cultivation is for sure misleading for the common people, as we should define
this cultivation \u201con anthropogenic soils\u201d instead.
To fit the aims of this survey we used a big greenhouse devoted to soilless cultivation of table grape in a farm in
the Southern SicilyWe have considered the enzymatic activity that characterized the coconut fiber after 3 cycles of
cultivation of table grapes. We used as a control the coconut fiber that the farmer used to prepare pots for soilless
cultivation and coconut fiber of: 6 pots at the end of the first productive cycle 6 pots at the end of the second cycle
and 3 pots at the end of the third cycle. On these organic samples we investigated three enzymes, belonging to oxydoreductase
(catalase and dehydrogenase) and hydrolase (urease) classes. Statistical analysis of the investigated
enzymes was developed using IBM Statistic SPSS v20 by ANOVA, Tukey test HSD for p 0.01 and Multivariate
Statistical Analysis.
Results have shown significant differences in enzymes content and quality among coir tests. The use of the coco
fiber, as nutritive substratum under fertigation, has positively influenced the growing and proliferation of soil microbes
and thus enzymatic activity. In merely 3 productive cycles the stage of decomposition of the organic residues
changed highlighting a substantial evolution of such organic material
Features and ecological significance of benchmark soils of the Moldavian plateau, Romania
Features and ecological significance of benchmark soils of the Moldavian plateau, Romani