Determination of usage opportunities of compost from fruit juice industry waste in vegetable agriculture

The importance of renewable and local resources in plant production is increasing day by day. Among these materials, compost obtained from fruit juice and tomato paste industry wastes has an important role. In this study, the effect of compost obtained from organic wastes on tomato cultivation in field conditions, tomato and cucumber cultivation in soilless agriculture and as seedling growing medium for tomato, pepper, cucumber and lettuce were investigated. In the study, apple, grape and tomato composts obtained from the wastes of fruit juice and tomato paste industries in Tokat were tested in 3 different studies. In the first trial, compost materials were tested in different combinations and also in combination with chemical fertilizers in field conditions for tomato cultivation in comparison with farmyard manure. Compost materials and farmyard manure were mixed into the soil at doses of 10 and 20 tons/ha before planting. In the second experiment, composts were used pure and mixed with each other adding perlite (2 compost: 1 perlite) as a soilless growing medium in tomato and cucumber cultivation. A mixture of cocopeat+perlite (2:1) was used as control medium. In the third experiment, compost materials were mixed with perlite (2:1) and tested in the cultivation of tomato, pepper, cucumber and lettuce seedlings. A mixture of peat + perlite (2:1) was used as the control medium. The use of compost and farmyard manure in field conditions has improved the physical and chemical properties of the soil. At the end of the experiment, the amount of soil organic matter was 2.27 % in the control plots, 3.13 % in the farmyard manure applied plots and 3.26 % in the compost-applied plots. In the field trial, the marketable yield of tomato was 40.87 tons/ha in control plots, 60.27 tons/ha in NPK applicated plots, and 90.30 tons/ha in the best compost application plot. The use of compost provided a significant biomass increase in the second crop spinach after tomato. Seedling production compost media yielded effective results such as peat. As a result, compost materials obtained from tomato, apple and grape wastes were successfully used in tomato cultivation under field conditions, tomato and cucumber cultivation in soilless culture and seedling cultivation of tomato, pepper, cucumber and lettuce, and similar or superior results were obtained in control applications. The use of compost materials to be obtained from organic wastes, which are renewable, environmentally friendly, not dependent on foreign sources, and which are abundant in our country, should be started without delay in field conditions, soilless agriculture and seedling cultivation.