Evaluation of Liquid Organic Fertilizers for Containerized Production under Controlled Environment
Organic production is becoming increasingly popular among producers in controlled environment agriculture. However, selecting a suitable fertilizer for organic production can be complicated, as commercially available organic fertilizers have widely different nutrient compositions. The goal of this s...
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American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS)
2025-04-01
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| Series: | HortScience |
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| author | Milon Chowdhury Oliver Watson Uttara C. Samarakoon James E. Altland Joanna Moine |
| author_facet | Milon Chowdhury Oliver Watson Uttara C. Samarakoon James E. Altland Joanna Moine |
| author_sort | Milon Chowdhury |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Organic production is becoming increasingly popular among producers in controlled environment agriculture. However, selecting a suitable fertilizer for organic production can be complicated, as commercially available organic fertilizers have widely different nutrient compositions. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of several liquid organic fertilizers and compare their performance with a synthetic fertilizer for growing lettuce and dwarf tomato in containerized production systems under a controlled environment. Two consecutive experiments were conducted. In Expt. 1, three commercial liquid organic fertilizers [earthworm castings (F1), sugarcane molasses (F2), and fish emulsion (F3)] were evaluated under two different containerized systems [Dutch bucket (DB) and regular plastic container (RPC)]. The best-performing fertilizers (F1, F2) were then compared with synthetic fertilizer (F4) in Expt. 2. In Expt. 1, lettuce was harvested 14 and 28 days after transplanting to assess shoot growth. In Expt. 2, dwarf tomato was also considered along with the lettuce, which were harvested 60 and 30 days after transplanting, respectively. Besides evaluating the regular growth parameters in both experiments, lettuce leaf tissue and leachate analyses were performed in Expt. 2. In Expt. 1, the F1 fertilizer outperformed F2 and F3, resulting in a 28% and 32% higher fresh weight in the DB system, and a 57% and 41% higher fresh weight in the RPC system, respectively. In addition, F1 led to improvements in the RPC system compared with the DB system, with increases of 28% in fresh weight, 20% in dry weight, 48% in leaf area, 26% in shoot width, 126% in root fresh weight, and 47% in root length. In Expt. 2, results showed that F1 performed similar to or better than F4 for growing lettuce and dwarf tomatoes in container hydroponic systems. Leaf tissue and leachate analyses also showed similar results. The findings of this study indicate that synthetic fertilizer could be replaced by some liquid organic fertilizers, and a single organic fertilizer could be used instead of several for organic leafy green production. Fruit crops such as tomato may require more than one organic fertilizer to provide the correct ratio of all nutrients. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3b5dc6ccbd25449da5e5e55c138daa33 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2327-9834 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | HortScience |
| spelling | doaj-art-3b5dc6ccbd25449da5e5e55c138daa332025-08-20T02:12:57ZengAmerican Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS)HortScience2327-98342025-04-01605https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI18466-25Evaluation of Liquid Organic Fertilizers for Containerized Production under Controlled EnvironmentMilon Chowdhury0Oliver Watson1Uttara C. Samarakoon2James E. Altland3Joanna Moine4Agricultural Technical Institute, The Ohio State UniversityAgricultural Technical Institute, The Ohio State UniversityAgricultural Technical Institute, The Ohio State UniversityUSDA Agricultural Research Service, Wooster, OH 44691, USAAgricultural Technical Institute, The Ohio State UniversityOrganic production is becoming increasingly popular among producers in controlled environment agriculture. However, selecting a suitable fertilizer for organic production can be complicated, as commercially available organic fertilizers have widely different nutrient compositions. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of several liquid organic fertilizers and compare their performance with a synthetic fertilizer for growing lettuce and dwarf tomato in containerized production systems under a controlled environment. Two consecutive experiments were conducted. In Expt. 1, three commercial liquid organic fertilizers [earthworm castings (F1), sugarcane molasses (F2), and fish emulsion (F3)] were evaluated under two different containerized systems [Dutch bucket (DB) and regular plastic container (RPC)]. The best-performing fertilizers (F1, F2) were then compared with synthetic fertilizer (F4) in Expt. 2. In Expt. 1, lettuce was harvested 14 and 28 days after transplanting to assess shoot growth. In Expt. 2, dwarf tomato was also considered along with the lettuce, which were harvested 60 and 30 days after transplanting, respectively. Besides evaluating the regular growth parameters in both experiments, lettuce leaf tissue and leachate analyses were performed in Expt. 2. In Expt. 1, the F1 fertilizer outperformed F2 and F3, resulting in a 28% and 32% higher fresh weight in the DB system, and a 57% and 41% higher fresh weight in the RPC system, respectively. In addition, F1 led to improvements in the RPC system compared with the DB system, with increases of 28% in fresh weight, 20% in dry weight, 48% in leaf area, 26% in shoot width, 126% in root fresh weight, and 47% in root length. In Expt. 2, results showed that F1 performed similar to or better than F4 for growing lettuce and dwarf tomatoes in container hydroponic systems. Leaf tissue and leachate analyses also showed similar results. The findings of this study indicate that synthetic fertilizer could be replaced by some liquid organic fertilizers, and a single organic fertilizer could be used instead of several for organic leafy green production. Fruit crops such as tomato may require more than one organic fertilizer to provide the correct ratio of all nutrients.https://journals.ashs.org/hortsci/view/journals/hortsci/60/5/article-p757.xmldutch bucket systemdwarf tomatolettucemacronutrientsmicronutrientssynthetic fertilizer |
| spellingShingle | Milon Chowdhury Oliver Watson Uttara C. Samarakoon James E. Altland Joanna Moine Evaluation of Liquid Organic Fertilizers for Containerized Production under Controlled Environment HortScience dutch bucket system dwarf tomato lettuce macronutrients micronutrients synthetic fertilizer |
| title | Evaluation of Liquid Organic Fertilizers for Containerized Production under Controlled Environment |
| title_full | Evaluation of Liquid Organic Fertilizers for Containerized Production under Controlled Environment |
| title_fullStr | Evaluation of Liquid Organic Fertilizers for Containerized Production under Controlled Environment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluation of Liquid Organic Fertilizers for Containerized Production under Controlled Environment |
| title_short | Evaluation of Liquid Organic Fertilizers for Containerized Production under Controlled Environment |
| title_sort | evaluation of liquid organic fertilizers for containerized production under controlled environment |
| topic | dutch bucket system dwarf tomato lettuce macronutrients micronutrients synthetic fertilizer |
| url | https://journals.ashs.org/hortsci/view/journals/hortsci/60/5/article-p757.xml |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT milonchowdhury evaluationofliquidorganicfertilizersforcontainerizedproductionundercontrolledenvironment AT oliverwatson evaluationofliquidorganicfertilizersforcontainerizedproductionundercontrolledenvironment AT uttaracsamarakoon evaluationofliquidorganicfertilizersforcontainerizedproductionundercontrolledenvironment AT jamesealtland evaluationofliquidorganicfertilizersforcontainerizedproductionundercontrolledenvironment AT joannamoine evaluationofliquidorganicfertilizersforcontainerizedproductionundercontrolledenvironment |