Growth Comparison of Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum) Grown Using Compost from Kean University’s In-vessel Composter Versus Synthetic Fertilizer
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Keith Wamah
College:
The Dorothy and George Hennings College of Science, Mathematics, and Technology
Major:
Biology/Enviornmental Option
Faculty Research Advisor(s):
Daniela Shebitz
Abstract:
Synthetic fertilizers (SF) are relied upon in 30-50% of all agricultural production and are the most significant contributors to soil nutrient input (Stewart et al., 2005). While SFs often improve food production, they also have negative impacts on the environment that are costly to mitigate. Compost, a much older soil improvement method (Sidder, 2016), can enhance the quality of nutrient-exhausted soils while decreasing surface runoff (Ashrap & Cathey, 2019). It can potentially be used as a substitute for SF, providing similar benefits without negative environmental impacts. The composter at Kean University (KU) turns food scraps obtained from dining facilities on campus into compost in less than a week. It has been in operation since 2010 and has processed over 600,000 lb. of food waste (Kean University, 2021). This study was designed to compare the growth of plants with KU’s compost and SF as nutrient sources. Over 45 days, in a greenhouse at KU, an experiment was carried out using two groups—synthetic fertilizer (SF) and compost (CP). Each of the groups had three treatments with six replicates: the CP group was treated with compost at 25%, 50%, and 75%; and the SF group contained solutions of FloraMicro and FloraGro, at concentrations 6.0 ml/gal and 5.6 ml/gal, 6.8 ml/gal and 6.4 ml/gal, and 8.5 ml/gal and 8.0 ml/gal respectively. The study’s objective was to use the compost produced by the KU’s composter to test the growth—shoot height, fresh weight, and leaf quantity—of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum), an aromatic plant of the Lamiaceae family (Ciriello et al., 2020), to that of SF. The alternative hypothesis for this study was that there will be a statistical difference in basil growth between the two media. Using a one-way ANOVA test, the results revealed that at p= 0.05, statistically, there was no significant difference in the shoot length and leaf quantity between the SF and CP groups. There was indeed a significant difference in the fresh weight between the treatments, with basil from the SF group having a greater mass at harvesting time. The qualitative analysis showed that the CP group treated with 25% compost could replace SF due to its overall samples’ health and survival rate. The result of this study is important because it provides practical evidence that can sway the community to use CP instead of SF, which can reduce environmental pollution and protect the environment.