الفهرس 
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Abstract
Pot experiments were conducted for two consecutive seasons to evaluate the environmental and financial impact of the replacement of peat moss with some agricultural wastes as growing media. Two vegetable crops (Lettuce as a leafy crop and Red Radish as a root crop) were cultivated in six different media (composted sorghum waste; CM, peanut shell; PS, banana wastes; BW, sorghum waste; SW, cup corn wastes; CC and saw dust; SD) along with peat moss (PM) as a comparison medium. Each media was mixed with washed sand in three mixing ratios 1:1 (M1), 1:2 (M2) and 1:3 (M3) organic waste: washed sand (v:v). On the second season, Spinach plant (as a leafy crop) and Table Beet plant (as a root crop) were cultivated after Lettuce and Red Radish, respectively, to examine the residual effects of the reusing of the same growing media for a second season.
Some physiochemical properties of the growing media including the available N, P and K were determined after each harvest. Also, some growth parameters and the uptake of N, P and K were determined for each harvest.
1- First season
1. 1 Lettuce experiment:
• The highest significant values of the tested EC, pH and C/N ratio were recorded in PM medium, while the highest significant value of organic carbon was observed in (SD).
• The highest significant values of particle density (PD) and bulk density (BD) were observed in CM and SW, respectively.
• The lowest significant values of EC, pH, C/N ratio, OC, PD and BD were recorded in PS, SW, BW, BW, SW and PM media, respectively.
• The difference between highest and the lowest significant values of EC, pH, OC, C/N ratio, BD and PD were by 1, 9, 205, 739, 29 and 16%, respectively.
• Increasing the mixing ratio of sand from 1:1 to1:3 significantly increased the pH, BD and PD by 6, 46 and 22%, respectively, and decreased EC, C/N ratio and OC by 25.7, 88.5 and 118.8%, respectively.
• The EC highest significant values were recorded in PMM1 (4.25 dS/m), PMM2 (4.19 dS/m) and SDM1 (4.16 dS/m) media, whereas the lowest values were in PSM3, PSM2 and PSM1 (0.23, 0.26 and 0.29 dS/m, respectively) media.
• The highest recorded pH in the different growing media was in BWM3 (8.50) medium while the lowest recorded value was in SDM1 (7.38) and CCM1 (7.32).
• The highest values of OC and C/ N ratio were recorded in SDM1 and PMM1 (13.92% and 26.11, respectively), whereas, the lowest respective values were recorded in BWM3 and PSM3 (2.35% and 1.67, respectively).
• The highest significant recorded values of PD were found in CMM2, CMM3, CCM3 and SDM3 media (2.21, 2.29, 2.23 and 2.24 g/cm3, respectively) and the lowest ones were in PMM1, PSM1, SWM1, BWM1 and CCM1 media (1.74, 1.72, 1.69, 1.75 and 1.62 g/cm3, respectively).
• The highest significant values of BD were recorded in PMM3 (1.60 g/cm3), CCM3 (1.54 g/cm3), SWM3 (1.61 g/cm3), SWM2 (1.54 g/cm3), CCM3 (1.47 g/cm3) and SDM3 (1.47 g/cm3) and the lowest value was in PMM1 (0.70 g/cm3).
• Peat moss contained the lowest amounts of available N, P and K (4912, 584.1 and 141.9 mg kg-1, respectively) compared with any of the tested media.
• The highest significant values of available N, P and K were recorded in CM (11944 mg N kg-1), CC (1077 mg P kg-1) and BW (711.9 mg K kg-1) media with increases by 143, 84 and 401% than PM medium, respectively.
• The maximum values of available N, P and K were recorded in M1 while the lowest ones were recorded in M3.
• Available N in the different growing media can be arranged descending as follow: CMM1 > PSM2 > CMM2> PSM1 > PSM3 > CMM3 > SWM2 > SWM1 > SWM3> BWM1 > SDM1= CCM1 > BWM2 > SDM2 > BWM3 > CCM2 > SDM3> PMM2> PMM1> CCM3> PMM3.
• Available P in the different growing media can be arranged dissentingly as follow CCM3> CCM2> CCM1= BWM3 > BWM2> BWM1> SDM1> PSM1> SWM1> CMM3= PSM2 = PSM3= PMM1> CMM1> CMM2 = SDM2>SWM2 = PMM2= PMM3> SDM3 >SWM3.
• Available K in the different growing media can be arranged in a descending order as follow: BWM1 > CCM1> BWM2 >CCM2 >CMM1> SWM1> BWM3= SDM1 > CCM3> SWM3> CMM2> SDM2= PSM1= CMM3= SDM3 = PSM2 = PMM2= SWM2> PSM3>PMM1=PMM3.
• The highest significant values of available N, P and K were recorded in CMM1 (14900 mg/kg), CCM3 (1096 mg/kg) and BWM1 (920.5 mg/kg), respectively, whereas the respective lowest values were recorded in PMM3 (4313 mg/kg), SWM3 (423.9 mg/kg) and PMM3 (103.6 mg/kg) with respective decreases by 2.5, 1.6 and 7.9-fold.
• The highest significant values of SFW (163.8 g), SDW (17.9 g), RFW (42.38 g), LN (21.83 L) and SL (7.16 cm) were recorded in PM media, while the highest significant value of SD (1.786 cm) was observed in PS medium.
• The highest CH value was found in CM medium (44.7) followed by PS medium (42.3).
• CC always recorded the lowest values of all discussed parameters (21.30 g SFW, 3.58 g SDW, 7.603 g RFW, 8.36 cm RL, 0.393 cm SD and 14.4 CH).
• The maximum significant values of RFW, RL and CH were recorded in M1 with an increase by 49, 19, and 162 % over M3.
• The maximum significant values of SFW, LN and SDW were recorded in M2 with an increase by 42, 9 and 62 % over M3.
• The highest significant value of SFW was recorded in PMM2 medium (203.5 g) and the lowest values were in CCM3 and CCM2 media (17.37 and 21.6 g, respectively).
• PMM2 recorded the highest significant values of both SDW (23.9 g) and RFW (59.99 g).
• The lowest SDW were found in CCM1, CCM2, CCM3 and BWM3 (4.1, 3.5, 3.1 and 4.2 g, respectively), on the other hand, RFW was the lowest in SWM1, SWM2, SWM3, CCM1, CCM2, CCM3, BWM1, BWM2 and BWM3 (9.7, 9.59, 8.12, 8.35, 7.33, 7.11, 8.358, 9.59 and 8.12 g, respectively).
• The highest recorded values of LN were in PMM1 (22.8 g), PMM2 (21.5 g), PMM3 (21.2 g) and CMM2 (21.4 g) and the lowest values 5.8 g in BWM3 and CCM3.
• The highest RL was in CMM2 and SWM1 (29.42 and 29.12 cm, respectively), whereas the lowest values were in BWM2, CCM1, CCM2 and CCM3 (9.6, 8.28, 8.20 and 8.60 cm, respectively).
• The highest values of SL and CH were recorded in PMM1 (8.4 cm) and CMM1 (51.3), respectively.
• The lowest recorded values were in BWM1, BWM2, BWM3 and SDM3 media for SL and CCM2 and CCM3 media for CH.
• The variation between the highest and lowest values of SFW, SDW, RFW, LN, RL, SD, SL and CH were by 10.7, 6.7, 7.4, 2.9, 2.6, 4.5, 3.1 and 2.8-fold, respectively.
• The highest significant values of N, P and K uptake were recorded in CM (5579, 2043 and 6095 mg/plant, respectively) and the lowest significant values were recorded in CC medium (788.1, 444.2 and 1115 mg/plant, respectively).
• The uptakes of N, P and K by the plants grown on the CM medium were higher by 6.1, 3.6 and 4.5-fold above that grown on CC one.
• The maximum significant values of N and K uptake were recorded in M2 (3646 and 3293 mg/plant, respectively), however, the maximum significant value of P uptake was recorded in M1 (1481 mg/plant).
• The lowest values of N, P and K were always recorded in M3 (1686, 650 and 1115 mg/plant, respectively).
• Increasing the ratio of the mixed sand from 1:2 to 1:3 reduced the uptake of N and K by 116 and 92%, respectively, while increasing the ratio of the mixed sand from 1:1 to 1:3 reduced the uptake of P by 128%.
• The highest values of N and P uptake were recorded with PSM2 medium (7603 and 2912 mg /plant, respectively) whereas, the highest value of K uptake was found with CMM2 (7942 mg /plant).
• However, the respective lowest values were 619.9 (CCM3), 358 (SWM3) and 301 (PMM3) mg /plant with decreases by 11.3, 7.1 and 25.4-fold from the highest values, respectively.
1. 2 Red Radish experiment
• The highest EC (3.60 dS/m) and the lowest C/N ratio (1.92) and OC (3.24%) were recorded in BW medium.
• The highest significant values of C/N ratio (12.27) and OC (9.89%) were recorded in SD medium with increases by 5.4 and 2.1-fold compared to BW medium.
• The PS medium was significantly the lowest medium in EC (1.10 dS/m) and PD (1.85 g cm-3), while CM recorded the highest significant value (2.11 g cm-3).
• Peat moss and CC media recorded the highest (8.22) and the lowest (7.63) pH values, respectively.
• The highest and lowest values of BD were recorded in SW and PM, respectively.
• Gradual and significant increases in pH (from 7.55 to 8.21), BD (from 1.02 g cm-3 to 1.49 g cm-3) and PD (from 1.76 g cm-3 to 2.14 g cm-3) were observed with increasing sand ratio from 1:1 (M1) to 1:3 (M3).
• Increasing sand ratio significantly and gradually decreased EC (from 3.14 dS/m to 2.49 dS/m), C/N ratio (from 7.87 to 5.73) and OC (from 9.44 % to 4.35%).
• The highest significant values of EC, pH, C/N ratio, OC, BD and PD were found in SDM1 (4.23 dS/m), BWM3 (8.70), SDM1 (14.52), SDM1 (13.92 %), PMM3 (1.60 g cm-3) and CMM3 (2.31 g cm-3), respectively, whereas, the respective lowest significant values were recorded in PSM3 (1.00 dS/m), CCM1 (7.34), BWM3 (1.78), BWM3 (2.35 %), PSM1 (0.84 g cm-3) and CCM1 (1.64 g cm-3).
• The highest significant values of the respective available nutrients were recorded in CM (13476 mg/kg) and BW (711.9 mg/kg) media followed by PS (13307 mg/kg) and CC (654.3 mg/kg) media, respectively.
• PM contained the lowest significant values of available N (5524 mg/kg), P (615.4 mg/kg) and K (194.1 mg/kg).
• The availability the respective nutrients increased by 144, 43 and 267% in CM medium and by 141, 29.4 and 237% in PS medium compared with PM medium.
• All discussed nutrients decreased with increasing the mixture ratio from 1:1 to 1:3.
• The gradual decrease in the available N, P and K were from 10650, 874.9 and 545.8 mg/kg in M1 to 5368, 584.8 and 273.4 mg/kg in M3, respectively.
• The percentages of the respective decreases were 98, 50 and 100%.
• Available N in different media can be arranged descending as follow: CMM1> PSM1> CMM2> PSM2> BWM1> SDM1> CCM1> PMM1> SWM1> BWM2> SDM2> SWM2> CMM3> BWM3> PSM3> CCM2> SDM3> PMM2> SWM3> CCM3> PMM3.
• The difference between the highest available N content (48263 mg/kg) and the lowest value (4132 mg/kg) reached 11-fold.
• The highest significant values of available P and K were recorded in CMM1 (987.2 mg/kg) and BWM1 (920.6 mg/kg), respectively, while, the lowest respective values were recorded in SWM3 (445.9 mg/kg) and PMM3 (194.1 mg/kg) with decreases by 1.21 and 3.74-fold, respectively.
• The highest recorded values of almost all examined plant parameters were found in PM, CM and PS media with a small, but significant, difference between them.
• The highest significant values of SFW and PL were found in PM medium (22.73 g and 30.18 cm, respectively) followed by PS (21.57 g and 25.33 cm, respectively) and CM (20.58 g and 24.76 cm, respectively), whereas, both PS and PM media recorded the same SDW (8.73 and 8.72 g respectively) followed by CM medium (7.92 g).
• Both RFW and RD were higher in CM (11.84 g and 3.67 cm, respectively) and PS (11.48 g and 3.76 cm, respectively) media followed by PM (9.72 g and 2.10 cm, respectively).
• The values of RL can be arranged descending as follow: PM> SW> CM> SD> PS> CC>SD.
• There were no significant difference between CM and PS medium for the LN (6.26 and 6.39 L, respectively) and CH (50.34 and 49.90, respectively).
• The lowest recorded values for all discussed parameters were found in CC medium which recorded 2.18 g SFW, 0.80 g SDW, 1.04 g RFW, 4.11 LN, 5.17 cm RL, 0.33 cm RD, 4.07 cm PL and 23.21 CH.
• The respective differences between the lowest and the highest values were by 9.4-fold (PM), 10.4-flod (CM), 0.55-fold (PS), 3.8-fold (PM), 10.4-fold (PS), 6.4-fold (PM), 9.9-fold (PS) and 1.2-fold (CM).
• Increasing sand ratio from 1:2 to 1:3 decreased SFW, SDW, RFW, LN, RD, PL and CH by 38.7, 25.6, 26.9, 11.2, 60.0, 15.5 and 16.4 %, respectively.
• The highest significant values of SFW, SDW, RFW, LN, RL, RD and PL were recorded in PMM2 (25.98 g), PMM2 (9.83 g), PSM2 (14.71 g), PSM2 (6.83 L), PMM1 (27.1 cm), PSM2 (4.32 cm) and PMM2 (31.5 cm) media.
• PMM2 and PSM1 media contained the highest CH value (57.8), whereas, the respective lowest values were always found in CCM3 medium with decreases from the highest values by 11.9, 12.3, 14.3, 0.71, 5.1, 18.6, 9.5 and 2.4-fold from the highest values.
• The highest significant value of N uptake was found in PM medium (239.8 mg/plant) followed by PS medium (233.7 mg/plant) and CM medium (216.2 mg/plant).
• P and K uptake were the highest in PS medium (33.79 and 209.9 mg/plant, respectively) followed by PM medium (30.97 and 192.1 mg/plant, respectively) and CM medium (25.91 and 189.2 mg/plant, respectively).
• CC recorded the lowest N (7.78 mg/plant), P (1.14 mg/plant) and K (6.91 mg/plant) uptake due to the very low fresh weight collected from the medium.
• The variance between the highest and the lowest respective values reached 29.8, 28.6 and 29.4-fold.
• The best significant mixing ratio was M2 in all discussed nutrient uptake recording 148.6, 22.34 and 132.5 mg/plant for N, P and K uptake, respectively.
• PMM2 and CMM2 almost recorded the same N uptake (263.4 and 264.5 mg/plant, respectively). However, the highest significant values of P and K uptake was found in PSM2 (43.77 mg/plant) and PMM1 (283.5 mg/plant), respectively.
• The lowest values were always recorded in CCM3 which reached 6.68, 0.743 and 5.64 mg/plant for N, P and K uptake, respectively.
2. Second season (Residual effect)
2. 1 Spinach experiment
• The pH, EC, BD and BD were continuously increased after Spinach plant harvest compared with their values after Lettuce harvest and also before planting.
• Peat moss recorded the highest values of pH (8.37), C/N ratio (6.58) and the lowest values of BP (1.29 g cm-3), PD (2.09 g cm-3).
• The lowest values of the respective parameters were 7.78 (SD medium), 1.17 (BW medium), 1.49 g cm-3 (SW medium) and 2.33 g cm-3 (SW and BW media).
• The highest values of EC (4.39 dS/m) and OC (9.30 %) were recorded in SD medium, whereas, the lowest values were in SW (2.99 dS/m) and BW (2.23 %), respectively.
• The variation between the highest and the lowest values reached 46.8, 7.6, 462.4, 15.5, 11.5 and 317.0 % for EC, pH, C/N ratio, BD, PD and OC, respectively.
• Increasing sand portion from 1:1 to 1:3 gradually and significantly increased pH (from 7.77 to 8.43), BD (from 1.18 to 1.58 g cm-3) and PD (from 1.86 to 2.52 g cm-3) and gradually decreased EC (from 4.29 to 3.35 dS/m), C/N ratio (from 4.76 to 3.22) and OC (from 7.89 to 3.64%).
• Both PMM3 and CCM3 media had the same highest significant effect on pH (8.80 and 7.78, respectively).
• PMM3 and SWM3 media had the same highest significant effect on BD (1.63 and 1.64 g cm-3, respectively) whereas, the lowest respective values were found in CMM1 (7.57) and PMM1 (0.921 g cm-3).
• BWM3 recorded the lowest C/N ratio and OC (0.911 and 1.28 %, respectively), while the highest respective values were in PMM1 (8.86) and SDM1 (13.27 %).
• Both BWM1 and SDM1 media had the same highest significant effect on EC (4.73 and 4.76 dS/m, respectively), whereas the lowest value was in SWM3 (2.78 dS/m).
• The highest recorded PD was in SWM3 (2.60 g cm-3) and the lowest value was in PMM1 (1.78 g cm-3).
• Generally, most of the recorded available N, P and K were higher after the harvest of Spinach in the second season compared with the first season after the harvest of Lettuce plants.
• The highest significant values of available N, P and K were found in CM (14525 mg N/kg and 923.3 mg P/ kg) and BW (735.4 mg K/ kg) media followed by PS (11872 mg N/ kg and 862.5 mg P/ kg) and CC (647.9 mg K/ kg).
• The lowest recorded values of available N and K were found in CC (6906 mg/ kg) and PM (279.9 mg/ kg) media with decreases by 1.1 and 2.3-fold compared with the highest values, respectively.
• Both PM and SW media had the lowest available P (695.8 and 695.1 mg/ kg, respectively) with a decrease by 32.8% compared with the highest value.
• The highest significant values of available N, P and K were always attributed with M2 which recorded 10456, 902.3 and 526.7 mg/ kg, respectively.
• Increasing sand ratio from 1:2 to 1:3 decreased the respective nutrients by 43.7, 35.3 and 51.4 %.
• Both PMM3 and CCM3 contained the lowest available N (5558 and 5565 mg/ kg, respectively), whereas, CMM1 contained the highest significant values of available N and P (17568 and 1020 mg/ kg, respectively).
• Both SWM3 and BWM3 recorded the lowest significant available P (552.5 and 554.4 mg/ kg, respectively).
• The highest available K was recorded in BWM2 (912.9 mg/ kg), while the lowest was in SDM3 (187.5 mg/ kg).
• The variance between the highest and the lowest values of available N, P and K reached 2.16, 0.85 and 3.87-fold, respectively.
• Composted corn residues (CM) had the superior effects on all discussed plant parameters recording 20.43 g, 4.496 g, 3.085 g, 5.944 L, 12.14 cm, 22.54 cm and 20.48 for SFW, SDW, RFW, LN, RL, PL and CH, respectively.
• PM was the second highest medium for SFW (18.76 g), SDW (3.883 g), RFW (2.632 g), RL (9.527 cm), PL (18.26 cm) and CH (17.88).
• The lowest values were always recorded in SD medium recording 6.803 g, 1.368 g, 0.728 g, 4.00L, 3.583 cm and 5.977 cm, whereas, the lowest value of CH (5.977) was recorded in CC medium.
• The deviation from the highest to the lowest values were by 2.00, 2.28, 3.23, 0.49, 2.39, 2.77 and 2.43-fold for SFW, SDW, RFW, LN, RL, PL and CH, respectively.
• Increasing sand portion from 1:1 (M1) to 1:3 (M3) decreased all discussed plant parameters from 16.91 to 11.63 g for SFW, from 3.727 to 2.194 g for SDW, from 2.31 to 1.02 for RFW, from 5.47 to 4.38 L for LN, from 9.142 to 5.807 cm for RL, from 17.05 to 12.27 cm for PL and from 17.29 to 8.29 for CH by 45.4, 69.9, 126.5, 24.9, 57.4, 39.0 and 108.6 %, respectively.
• The highest values of all discussed parameters were always recorded in CMM1, whereas SDM3 always recorded the lowest values.
• The recorded highest and lowest value were 23.11 and 5.636 g, 5.436 and 1.161 g, 4.073 and 0.476 g, 7.333 and 4.00 L, 14.26 and 3.066 cm, 25.23 and 5.333 cm, 24.73and 3.733 for SFW, SDW, RFW, LN, RL, PL and CH, respectively.
• The differences between the highest and lowest value of the respective parameters were by 3.1, 3.7, 7.6, 0.83, 3.7, 3.7 and 5.6-fold.
• The highest and the lowest significant values of N, P and K uptake by Spinach plants were always found in CM and SD medium, respectively.
• The highest values were 1456, 129.4 and 1456 mg/plant, whereas the lowest values were 290.9, 30.57 and 302.3 mg/ plant, respectively, with variation reached 4.0, 3.2 and 3.8-fold, respectively.
• The N, P and K uptake decreased from 1104 to 586.2 mg/ plant, from 101.5 to 42.3 mg/ plant and from 1192 to 600.2 mg/ plant, respectively, with increasing sand ratio with respective decreases by 88.3, 139.6 and 98.6 %.
• The highest uptake of all discussed nutrients was always found in CMM1 medium which recorded 1810, 173.9 and 1821 mg/ plant for N, P and K uptake, respectively.
• The lowest respective values were 215.31 (SDM3), 20.65 (CCM3) and 229.4 (SDM3) mg/ plant with a decrease by 7.4, 7.4 and 6.9-fold.
1. 2 Table Beet experiment
• The pH, EC, BD and BD were continuously increased after Table Beet plant harvest compared with their values after Red Radish harvest and also before planting.
• Peat moss (PM) recorded the lowest values of BD (1.27 g cm-3), PD (2.06 g cm-3) and the highest value of C/N ratio (6.62).
• The highest values were 1.47 g cm-3 for BD (SW medium), 2.58 and2.32 and 2.31 g cm-3 for PD (SW and BW media, respectively), whereas, BW medium recorded the lowest values of C/N ratio (1.18) and OC (2.25 %).
• The highest values of EC (4.53 dS/m) and OC (9.31 %) were recorded in SD medium, whereas the lowest value of EC was in SW (3.06 dS/m).
• The highest value of pH was 8.30 (BW medium), while the lowest value was 7.78 (CM medium).
• The variation between the highest and the lowest values reached 48.0, 6.7, 461.0, 15.7, 12.6 and 313.8 % for EC, pH, C/N ratio, BD, PD and OC, respectively.
• Increasing sand portion from 1:1 to 1:3 gradually and significantly increased pH (from 7.84 to 8.36), BD (from 1.16 to 1.56 g cm-3) and PD (from 1.84 to 2.52 g cm-3) and gradually decreased EC (from 4.35 to 3.59 dS/m), C/N ratio (from 4.77 to 3.24) and OC (from 7.92 to 3.67%).
• Both CCM1 and SDM1media recorded the highest significant EC values (4.83 and 4.88 dS/m, respectively), whereas SWM3 medium recorded the lowest one (2.86 dS/m).
• SWM3 medium recorded the highest BD and PD values (1.62 and 2.58 g cm-3, respectively).
• The lowest respective values were recorded in PMM1 (0.91 and 1.77 g cm-3, respectively) which also recorded the highest values of pH (8.60) and C/N ratio (8.90).
• The lowest recorded C/N ratio (0.89) and OC (1.26 %) were in BWM3 medium.
• The highest OC was in SDM1 (13.3 %) and the lowest pH was in CMM1.
• The variance between the highest and the lowest values reached 70.6, 14.4, 78.0 and 45.8 % for EC, pH, BD and PD, respectively.
• The increases in C/N ratio and OC were by 9.0 and 9.6-fold, respectively.
• The highest significant values of available N, P and K were found in CM (14270 mg/ kg), SD (905.2 mg/ kg) and BW (750.4 mg/ kg) followed by PS (11560 mg/ kg), CM (859.3 mg/ kg) and CC (705.9 mg/ kg), respectively, whereas, the respective lowest values recorded 6546, 417.4 and 315.9 mg/ kg in CC, SW and PM.
• The variance between the highest and the lowest values reached 1.18, 1.17 and 1.38-fold for available N, P and K, respectively.
• The highest values of available N, P and K were always in M2 which recorded 10091, 843.5 and 597.9 mg/ kg with increases by 44.0, 37.7 and 44.2 % over M3, respectively.
• The highest values were recorded in CMM1 (17314 mg/ kg), SDM1 (1017 mg/ kg) and BWM2 (927.9 mg/ kg) with increases by 2.3, 2.5 and 2.4-fold from the lowest values of available N, P and K, respectively.
• The available N can be arranged descending as follow: CMM1> CMM2> PSM2> PSM1> CMM3> SDM1> PSM3> SWM2> BWM2> PMM2> CCM2> SDM2>PMM1> BWM1> SWM1> SDM3> BWM3> CCM1>SWM3> CCM3> PMM3.
• The available P can be arranger descending as follow: SDM1> BWM2> CCM2> CMM1> SDM2> CMM2> PSM2> BWM1>SDM3> PMM2> CCM1> CMM3> PSM1> PSM3> CCM3> SWM2> BWM3> PMM1> PMM3> SWM1> SWM3.
• Available K can be arranged descending as follow: BWM2> SDM1> CCM1> BWM1> CCM2> SWM2> SDM2> CCM3> BWM3> SDM3> CMM1> SWM1> SWM3> CMM2> PSM2> CMM3> PMM2> PSM1> CMM3> PMM1> PMM3.
• The highest significant values of almost all plant parameters were always found in PM, CM and PS medium (the same result was found in Red Radish planes).
• There were no significant differences between the three media for LN (6.55, 6.55 and 6.67 L, respectively), RL (7.11, 7.02 and 7.36 cm, respectively) and PL (11.81, 11.76 and 11.84 cm, respectively).
• The highest significant value of SFW was in PM medium (21.05 g) followed by CM medium (20.28 g) then PS medium (18.93 g).
• SDW values were the highest in PM and CM media (3.65 and 3.64 g, respectively) followed by PM medium (3.44 g).
• RFW values were the highest in CM and PS media (3.518 and 3.618 g, respectively) followed by PM medium (3.259 g).
• RD was the highest in PS medium (1.26 cm) followed by PM and CM media (1.14 and 1.11 cm, respectively).
• The highest recorded CH was found in PM medium (40.4) followed by SW and CM media (38.8 and 38.1, respectively).
• Saw dust (SD) was always the lowest value for all discussed plant parameters recording 6.93 g, 1.03 g, 0.244 g, 4.67 L, 1.61 cm, 0.31 cm and 2.17 cm for SFW, SDW, RFW, LN, RL, RD and PL, respectively.
• Both SD and BW media recorded the lowest significant values of CH (24.7 and 21.7, respectively) with respective decreases by 2.3, 2.6, 13.8, 0.43, 3.6, 3.1, 4.5 and 0.86-fold for SFW, SDW, RFW, LN, RL, RD, PL and CH.
• The highest significant values were always found in PSM1 medium recording 25.23 g, 4.50 g, 4.78 g, 7.66 L, 8.33 cm, 1.67 cm and 14.50 cm for SFW, SDW, RFW, LN, RL, RD and PL, respectively, whereas, the lowest significant values were always recorded in SDM3 along with some other media is some parameters.
• The variation between the highest and the lowest values reached 4.7, 4.9, 42.5, 0.77, 5.1, 4.6 and 7.2-fold for SFW, SDW, RFW, LN, RL, RD and PL, respectively.
• The highest and the significant values of CH were recorded in PMM1 and SWM3 (57.0 and 17.2, respectively) with a decrease by 2.3-fold.
• The highest significant values of N uptake were recorded in CM and PS media (108.2 and 105.6 mg/ plant, respectively) followed by PM medium (101.5 mg/ plant), whereas, the highest significant value of P uptake was recorded in CM medium (9.39 mg/ plant) followed by PS and PM medium (7.436 and 7.364 mg/ plant, respectively).
• The highest significant value of K uptake was recorded in PS medium (101.4 mg/ plant) followed by CM medium (93.11 mg/ plant) and PM medium (89.67 mg/ plant).
• The lowest significant values of the respective nutrients were found in SD medium which recorded 0.866, 1.377 and 12.46 mg/ plant.
• The decrease from the highest to the lowest values reached 123.9, 5.8 and 7.1-fold for N, P an K uptake, respectively.
• Increasing sand portion from M1 to M3 gradually an significantly decreased N (from 85.29 to 42.53 mg/plant), P (from 6.991 to 3.993 mg/ plant) and K (from 91.96 to 54.74 mg/ plant) uptake by 93.5, 75.1 and 68.0%, respectively.
• Peanut shell (PSM1) always recorded the highest significant values (171.8, 12.24 and 154.5 mg/ plant) for N, P and K uptake.
• SDM3 recoded the lowest values for P (1.196 mg/ kg) and K uptake (6.691 mg/ kg), whereas, N uptake was the lowest in SDM2 (0.734 mg/ kg).
• The treatments can be arranged descending as follow: PSM1> PMM1> CMM1> CMM2> PMM2> CMM3> PSM2> PMM3> PSM3> SWM1> BWM1> SWM2> BWM2> SWM3> CCM1> CCM2> BWM3> CCM3> SDM1> SDM3> SDM2 for N uptake, PSM1> PMM1> CMM1> CMM2> BWM1> PMM2> BWM3> PSM3> BWM2> PSM2> SWM1> SWM2> CMM3> CCM1> PMM3> CCM2> SWM3> CCM3> SDM1> SDM2> SDM3 for K uptake.
• the net profit in the second season was much lower than the first one. Lettuce plant was the best cultivated crop concerning net profit followed by red radish plants. These profit results may lead to a conclusion that the media should be used for one season. Also, it can be noticed that root crops are not suitable for an economic production using such media. The highest net profit were recorded with the use of PSM2, PSM1, PMM1 and PSM1 for lettuce, red radish, spinach and table beet, respectively.
Conclusion
Organic wastes were utilized as growing media and its benefit to environment in the production of some vegetable crops. In this work, we used different organic materials as growing media constituents compared with peat moss. All of these organic wastes have their respective advantages and disadvantages. Different areas in the world, with different conditions and requirements, require different crops, different distances to sources of primary raw materials used as growing media components, and different technologies used to produce plants. Materials that are easily available, financially feasible, environmentally friendly, and that can provide a high-quality growing medium will become replacements for peat moss in the future.
Our results concluded that PM, CM and PS had superior effects on almost all discussed growth parameters of both lettuce and red radish crop compared with all other tested organic wastes. However, PM medium stimulated the growth of shoots but not the roots (which are the harvest of this plant) of red radish crop compared with CM and PS media. Generally, tthe best treatment that recorded the highest values of the economic parts (root part) of red radish crop was found in PSM2 and CMM2. Whereas, PSM1 was the best treatment for almost all discussed table beet plant parameters followed by PMM1 and CMM2. On the other hand, composted sorghum residues (CM) had the superior effects on all discussed spinach plant parameters followed by PM medium.
Generally, the net profit in the second season was much lower than the first one. Lettuce plant was the best cultivated crop concerning net profit followed by red radish plants. These profit results may lead to a conclusion that the media should be used for one season. Also, it can be noticed that root crops are not suitable for an economic production using such media. The highest net profit were recorded with the use of PSM2, PSM1, PMM1 and PSM1 for lettuce, red radish, spinach and table beet, respectively. The results showed that leafy crops are economically better than root crops. Also, PSM2 and PSM3 are the best treatment concerning the net profit in both leafy and root crops. Further research on the innovative approaches in soilless culture systems and materials used as growing media components is required.