0000000000293845
AUTHOR
Giulia La Placa
Biowaste in a circular bioeconomy in Mediterranean area: A case study of compost and vermicompost as growing substrates alternative to peat
European policies are advocating a transition toward circular bio-economy, an economy aiming at reducing the dependence from fossil-based resources, limiting greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impacts. The aim of this paper is to assess the potential for circularity for bio-waste and related by-products, to highlight the role of compost and vermicompost in the circular bioeconomy and their use in the agricultural sector. Three different substrates were tested in the soilless cultivation of Salvia officinalis, a Mediterranean nutraceutical and healthy plant: vermicompost (40%), compost (40%) and peat (100%). The average values of the main biometric parameters were calculated and comp…
Effects of Vermicompost, Compost and Digestate as Commercial Alternative Peat-Based Substrates on Qualitative Parameters of Salvia officinalis
Peat is a common substrate used for the cultivation of potted plants. However, the use of peat in horticulture has recently been questioned from an environmental standpoint, since it is a non-renewable resource and plays a major role in atmospheric CO2 sequestration. The aim of this work was to assess the potentialities of substrates obtained from vermicompost, compost and anaerobic digestion processes to partially substitute peat for sage (Salvia officinalis L.) cultivation. Therefore, we planned an experiment to assess the effect of these substrates on essential oil (EO) yield and composition, as well as on leaf nutrients concentration of sage plants. The three substrates were mixed with …
Sustainable Valorisation of Biowaste for Soilless Cultivation of Salvia Officinalis in a Circular Bioeconomy
The aim of this work is to assess the usefulness of biowaste deriving from CircularBioeconomy (CBE) processes (i.e., vermicompost, compost and digestate), as growing substratesfor the partial or total replacement of peat, by measuring the vegetation biometric parameters ofsage (Salvia officinalis L.)&mdash