A New Organic Amendment Based on Insect Frass for Zucchini (<i>Cucurbita pepo</i> L.) Cultivation

Abstract

Insect frass is considered as a sustainable resource for plant nutrition. This new amendment is characterized by a high salinity (EC) which constitutes an issue for its agronomic utilization. The objective of this work is to evaluate the effect of four organic amendments with different EC: frass of Hermetia illucens (15.19 mS/cm), frass of Tenebrio molitor (6.47 mS/cm), vermicompost (2.07 mS/cm), and cattle manure (1.33 mS/cm), on zucchini crop. The results showed a great improvement of the agronomic parameters of zucchini using frass of T. molitor insects. This study shows that insect frass could be potential alternatives of conventional amendments and may have positive impact on sustaining agricultural production.

Keywords

• cattle manure
• <i>Cucurbita pepo</i> L.
• insect frass
• plant nutrition
• salinity
• vermicompost