SUSTAINABLE AND INTEGRAL EXPLOITATION OF AGAVE Editor Antonia Gutiérrez-Mora Compilers Benjamín Rodríguez-Garay Silvia Maribel Contreras-Ramos Manuel Reinhart Kirchmayr Marisela González-Ávila Index 1. Scientific trends on Agave 2. Science and technology of Agave beverages and other derivatives 3. Biological effects of Agave fructans and other by-products 4. Industrial processing of Agave wastes and subproducts Citation example: Gutiérrez-Aguilar, P.R., Gil-Vega, K.C. and Simpson, J. 2014. Development of an Agrobacterium tumefasciens mediated transformation protocol for two Agave species by organogenesis. In: A. Gutiérrez-Mora (Ed.), B. Rodríguez-Garay, S. M. Contreras-Ramos, M. R. Kirchmayr, M. González-Ávila (Comps.), Sustainable and Integral Exploitation of Agave. Retrieved from: http://www.ciatej.net.mx/agave/1.7agave.pdf ISBN: 978-607-96619-1-5 Published online: December 22, 2014
Sustainable and Integral Exploitation of Agave 2014 TOMATO PLANT GROWTH IN MAGUEY MEZCALERO BAGASSE COMPOST WITH APLICATION OF TWO NUTRIENT SOLUTIONS 1 Robles, C., 1 Flores-Ríos, P.*, 1 Gaytán-López, L. 1 Instituto Politécnico Nacional - CIIDIR-Oaxaca, Soil Laboratory. Oaxaca, México. ABSTRACT The mezcal industry in Oaxaca, Mexico, produce a great volume of residues, mainly vinasses and bagasse, which with a process of composting may have use in agriculture as soil amendment and substrate for soilless cropping. The aim of the work was to record the effects of using composted mezcal bagasse as substrate, irrigated with two nutrient solutions, in the development of tomato plants. Growth of plantlets of indeterminate saladette tomato Cv. Ramses were used as indicators of the effects of three substrates (composted mezcal bagasse BM-, peat P-, and mixture 50:50 BM-P) and two nutrient solutions (Hoagland and Steiner universal solutions) in a complete two-factor experimental design. None of the recorded variables showed statistically significant difference in response to nutrient solutions. The BM and BM-T substrates had higher values of plant height, stem diameter, branch and leave number. The BM-T treatment recorded the highest number of set fruits per plant. The stabilized mezcal bagasse compost, alone or mixed with peat (50:50) can be used in the cropping of tomato as a substitute for peat. Key words: Agave baggase compost, nutrient solution, soilless culture *Corresponding author: floresrios_pau@hotmail.com
INTRODUCTION Many factors, such as the global need to reduce pollution and decreasing input costs, have led to the search for sustainable production systems, incorporating organic practices in crops or experimenting protected agriculture with composted agricultural and agro industrial wastes as substrates (Cruz et al., 2012). The mezcal production has boomed in Oaxaca, Mexico. The development of this agribusiness brings the generation of a great volume of the residues bagasse and vinasses, susceptible to stabilization by composting. These residues may be used in agricultural production, such as agave bagasse compost from tequila agroindustry in tomato production (Iñiguez et al., 2011). The work records the effects of using composted mezcal bagasse as substrate, irrigated with two nutrient solutions, in the development of tomato saladette type. METHODS The experiment was conducted in Santa Cruz Xoxocotlan (Oaxaca, Mexico) in a greenhouse, during two months, June-July 2014. Saladette indeterminate type tomato, cv. Ramses F1 was used. Plantlets were transplanted 35 days after seeding to black bags of 4.63 L. The topological arrangement was conducted in three parallel rows, 30 cm between pots and 100 cm between rows. A complete two-factor experimental design with five replications was used. The factors were: substrate and nutrient solution; the substrate were bagasse compost 100% (BM), peat 100% (T), and bagasse compost - peat (BM-T) in 50:50 rate. The bagasse compost was sieved in of 8 mm sieve, and Canadian peat was used as it comes. The Table 1 shows the characteristics of bagasse compost used. The universal nutrient solutions Hoagland (H) and Steiner (S) were evaluated. It were applied to the 60 days after transplant, at a rate of 200 ml per plant. The variables measured were: plant height (ph), stem diameter (sd), number of branches (bn), leaves (ln), clusters (nfc), flowers (fln) and set fruits per plant (nfr). Root dry weight (rdw) and shoot dry weight (sdw) also were recorded. Table 1. Physical and chemical characteristics of mezcal bagasse compost used in this work. Parameter ph 8.35 Electric Conductivity (ds m 1 ) 2.05 Organic matter (%) 64.55 C/N rate 18.15 Field density (Kg m -3 ) 146.40 Bulk density (g cm -3 ) 0.252 Total pore space (%) 85.58 Water retention capacity (ml L -1 ) 36.685 158
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS None of the recorded variables showed statistically significant difference in response to nutrient solutions. A similar result was recorded in an experiment on lettuce (http://www.agroparlamento.com/agroparlamento/notas.asp?n=0072). With respect to factor substrates, Table 2 shows that, until the day 41 of the evaluation, the BM-T treatment showed the highest values in ph, sd, bn, ln. Substrates BM and BM-T promoted, on average, significantly higher values in all the measured variables. The BM-T treatment recorded the highest number of set fruits per plant, which could mean increased production and crop yield, similar to that reported by Iniguez et al. (2011) using composted tequila bagasse and comparing with commercial substrate of coconut fiber. Table 2 Values of the variables measured in tomato plants at 41 and 71 days after transplantation. day 41 day 71 Variable BM BM-T T BM BM-T T ph 98.79 b 127.85 a 94.41 b 203.17 a 176.07 b 178.6 b st 5.64 b 7.09 a 5.88 b 8.22 b 9.32 a 8.18 b nb 12.80 b 14.00 a 11.60 c 15.80 a 14.40 b 13.60 c nl 121.10 b 143.40 a 117.40 b 226.30 a 192.40 b 151.30 c nfc 2.00 a 1.10 b 1.90 a 5.00 a 3.30 c 4.00 b nfl 14.40 a 8.40 b 13.50 a 30.00 b 39.60 a 27.20 b nfr 11.4 ab 14.7 a 11.4 ab Same letters in the same row, (same column group) presented no significant estatistical differences. The interaction of the factors shows the same trend until the day 41, the BM-T-S y BM-T-H treatments have the highest values in the variables ph, st, nl and nb, changing the trend at the end of the experiment, maintaining the values above T-S and T-H. At the end of the evaluation, the BM-T-H treatment showed the highest values of the variables st, nfl and nfr. The sdw was significantly higher in BM-TS and BM-T-H treatment, the latter being the highest. CONCLUSIONS The values of the measured variables of tomato plants growing in compost of mezcal bagasse compost showed higher values compared to plants grown in peat. We conclude that mezcal bagasse compost, alone or mixed with peat (50:50) can be used in the cropping of tomato as a substitute for peat. 159
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The work was funded by the by the Secretary of Research and Graduate Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute (SIP20140894). REFERENCES Cruz, E., Sandoval M., Volke, V., Can, A. y Sánchez, J. 2012. Efecto de mezclas de sustratos y concentración de la solución nutritiva en el crecimiento y rendimiento de tomate. Rev. Mex. de Ciencias Agríc. 3 (7) 1361-1373 Iñiguez, G., Martínez, G., Flores, P., Virgen, G. (2011). Utilización de subproductos de la industria tequilera. Parte 9. Monitoreo de la evolución del compostaje de dos fuentes distintas de bagazo de Agave para la obtención de un substrato para jitomate. Rev. Int. Contam. Ambie. 27 (1) 47-59. 160