Practical Guidelines for Farm Waste Utilization in Sustainable Kale Production
Ornprapa Thepsilvisut,
Nuengruethai Srikan,
Preuk Chutimanukul,
Dusit Athinuwat,
Wilawan Chuaboon,
Rusama Marubodee,
Hiroshi Ehara
Affiliations
Ornprapa Thepsilvisut
Department of Agricultural Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Thammasat University Rangsit Center, Klong Luang 12120, Pathum Thani, Thailand
Nuengruethai Srikan
Department of Agricultural Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Thammasat University Rangsit Center, Klong Luang 12120, Pathum Thani, Thailand
Preuk Chutimanukul
Department of Agricultural Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Thammasat University Rangsit Center, Klong Luang 12120, Pathum Thani, Thailand
Dusit Athinuwat
Department of Agricultural Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Thammasat University Rangsit Center, Klong Luang 12120, Pathum Thani, Thailand
Wilawan Chuaboon
Department of Agricultural Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Thammasat University Rangsit Center, Klong Luang 12120, Pathum Thani, Thailand
Rusama Marubodee
Department of Plant Production Technology, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Rajamangala University of Technology Tawan-ok, Si Racha 20110, Chonburi, Thailand
Hiroshi Ehara
International Center for Research and Education in Agriculture, Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan
Natural amendments from agricultural waste to improve soil physicochemical properties continuously attract research interest in promoting eco-friendly plant production. The present study evaluated the proper use of sawdust, biochar, and compost made from farm waste for kale production from seedling propagation to field conditions. From the seedling propagation process, the results demonstrate that the most suitable growing medium for kale seedings was 0.5:1:1 v/v of sawdust + biochar + compost, which gave the fastest mean germination times (2.71 days) and the highest seed germination percentage (78.33%). In addition to investigating the selected growing media as the soil amendments at five different rates (0, 6.25, 12.50, 18.75, 25.00, and 31.25 t ha−1), the result reveals that the fresh weight of marketable leaves was significantly highest under the 31.25 t ha−1 treatment. The application rate that yielded the highest gross profit margins was eight times higher than the control. Moreover, in some harvesting periods, the kale leaf yields under the treatment of 31.25 t ha−1 showed higher total chlorophyll and carotenoid contents.
