@article{Eudoxie:253707,
      recid = {253707},
      author = {Eudoxie, Gaius and Aska, Anika},
      title = {DIRECT LEACHING OF SPENT MUSHROOM COMPOST (SMS) FOR  SEEDLING CULTURE},
      address = {2012},
      number = {536-2016-38548},
      pages = {13},
      year = {2012},
      abstract = {Seedling culture in chemically active media presents  challenges due to
phytotoxicity associated with high  contents of soluble salts. A greenhouse study was conducted  to
investigate the effect of direct leaching on the  suitability of spent mushroom substrate (SMS) as a
seedling  nursery media. Germination, growth and nutrition  characteristics of cucumber and hot
pepper were compared  among leached SMS (SMSL), unleached SMS (SMSU) and promix  (PM)
in a factorial design with three replicates. Seedling  media significantly affected germination of hot
pepper  seeds, which was reduced to < 30% for the SMSU. Cucumber  seeds showed > 90%
germination across all media used.  Across both crops, over the growing period, plants grown  in
SMSL showed consistently, and in most cases  significantly (P< 0.05) greater heights and stem
diameters  than those in the SMSU and PM. Chlorophyll index (CI) was  greatest for the unleached
SMS and lowest for promix. At no  time was there a significant difference in CI between the  leached
and unleached treatments. A similarly lower dry  matter was shown for the unleached treatment
compared to  that of the others. Leached SMS resulted in either better  or equal growth responses to
PM, with the added advantage  of not having to be fertilized.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/253707},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.253707},
}