Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Borazjani, Abdolhamid

Committee Member

Sloan, R. Crofton

Committee Member

Prewitt, M. Lynn

Committee Member

Diehl, Susan V.

Date of Degree

12-15-2012

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Forest Products

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Forest Resources

Department

Department of Forestry

Abstract

The objectives of this study were: 1) To evaluate short-term composting of hardwood bark with combinations of poultry litter and ammonium nitrate and 2) To determine the suitability of composted material for ornamental plant media. In a 3-month accelerated composting study, hardwood bark was amended with (20% & 40%) poultry litter, (1% & 2%) ammonium nitrate, or unamended. Composting was run in fifteen 35- gallon containers and samples were collected at day 0, 45, and 90 for pH, moisture content, carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, compost maturity, toxicity, and green house evaluations. The amendment containing 40% poultry litter showed significantly higher weight reduction than others at days 45 and 90. Also, this treatment showed significantly higher mass weight in transplanted zinnia and gardenia than other treatments and was comparable to commercial media. Overall, results indicated that the amendment of hardwood bark with poultry litter could produce comparable product to currently used commercial container media.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/19498

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