Effects of Vermicompost Applications on Microelemental Contents of Olive Saplings' Production Material

Abstract

Disseminations of organic fertilizer use in olive sapling nursery is very important. When the saplings are developed well at the beginning, this will be important for root development after planting to land, decreasing the future yield lowness, and even obtaining large amount of high quality olive grain and oil, therefore studies about this subject are essential. In this study, Gemlik olive (Olea europaea L. cv. Gemlik) variety saplings were grown with applications of different doses of the vermicompost that is an organic fertilizer (0, 5, 10, 20 and 40%) to production material and single dose of chemical fertilizer which is used commonly by planters (100% production material + chemical fertilizer). The micro nutrients content of the production material were analyzed. According to the results, the micro nutrients analysis of the production material used for the growth of olive saplings at the 3rd and 6th months was significant. Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn and B values as the average of all treatments were 12309.56, 34.74, 625.66, 52.61 30.85 at the 3rd month and 12066.24, 28.60, 507.03, 47.40, 29.98 mg kg-1 at the 6th month. In general, 40% vermicompost (VC) + 60% production material (PM) increased the micro elemental content. Use of vermicompost in production material can be said to increase quality of production material and positively affect nourishment of olive saplings and their developments. Vermicomposting is a simple biotechnological process of composting, in which certain species of earthworms (Eisenia foetida etc.) are used to enhance the process of waste conversion and produce a better product. The use of vermicompost is important for the sustainability of agriculture. These results showed that the effects of different organic material (vermicompost) applications on olive sapling properties are important. © 2020 Namik Kemal University - Agricultural Faculty. All rights reserved.