The document discusses research on alternative substrates for ornamental crop production. It summarizes various studies that evaluated different substrate mixtures and materials for growing ornamental plants. These include mixtures of coconut peat, rice hulls, perlite, vermiculite, biochar, and other organic and inorganic materials. The studies assessed the effects on plant growth, flowering, nutrient uptake, and physical properties of the substrates. Most found that various mixtures supported plant growth similarly to traditional substrates like peat moss, with some mixtures performing even better in some cases. The document concludes that the optimal substrate depends on the specific plant but that developing intelligent, self-sustaining growing media will be important.

1. Alternate substrates for
Ornamental crop
production
Presented by
Ch. Girija Kumari, UHS12PGM269
Sr. M.Sc.,
Dept. of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture
University of Horticultural Sciences,
PG centre, GKVK, Bengluru
1
Chair person
Sujatha A. Nair
Principal Scientist
Division of Ornamental Crops
Indian Institute of Horticultural research
Bengaluru, Karnataka

2. .
Contents
Introduction
Functions of substrates
Classification of substrates
Advantages of soil less substrates
 Properties of substrates
Reviews
2

3. There are four functions that substrate must
serve in order to support good plant growth
 It must serve as a reservoir for plant nutrients
 It must hold water in a way that makes it
available to the plant
 It must provide plants with gases and water at
the same time
 It must support the plant
3

4. Transition from traditional substrates to alternate substrates
4
SOIL
ADVANTAGES
DIS-ADVANTAGES
Soil- less culture
Substrate
culture
Water
culture
Organic
substrates
Inorganic
substrates
Static
Solution
culture
Circulated
Solution
culture

5. 5
Types of Water culture / Hydro-culture
a. Nutrient film technique (NFT)
b. Static aerated technique (SAT)
c. Ebb and flow technique (EFT)
d. Deep flow technique (DFT)
e. Aerated flow technique (AFT)

6. 6
Classification of Soil less substrates
Organic substrates Inorganic substrates
a. Peat moss
b. Wood residues
c. Saw dust
d. Bark
e. Rice hulls
f. Coconut peat
a. Perlite
b. Sand
c. Vermiculite
d. Calcined clay
e. Pumice
f. Rock wool

7. 7
Peat moss
Accumulation of plant materials in poorly drained
areas
As peat is a non- renewable resource, increase in price is a limiting factor
Then what is the alternative ?
Unused agricultural by-products that could be used quite easily as substrates
As far as the Kyoto agreements are concerned, peat alternatives could help,
since by both obtaining and using peat a lot of carbon-dioxide (CO2) is
released (Block et al.,2006)

8. 8
Coconut peat
Used throughout the world for wide range of soilless crop
production
Crops like carnation, Rose, Gerbera, Gypsophila, Lisiathus,
Chrysanthemum are best grown with no harmful
environmental effect
High water holding capacity
Provides a buffer in high temperatures
Stimulate root growth

9. 9
perlite
Pumice
vermiculite
Rice hulls

10. 10
Digging Peat in Scotland Mining Vermiculite in South Africa
Perlite Mine in New Mexico

11. 11
Advantages of Soil less culture
Soilless culture has many advantages over standard
agricultural practices
1.Weed and soil diseases are not a problem in soil-less
culture
2. High quality yield
3. Cultivating crops in any region even in regions where
poor soil conditions prevail
4. Controlling the root environments and prevention of
compaction
5.Increasing water and nutrient use efficiency

12. Carbonized rice husks (CRH)
Commercial substrate Plantmax (COM) composed carbonized rice husks, composted
pinus bark, bovine Vermicompost and vermiculite
A mixture of vermiculite and carbonized rice husks in a 1:1 proportion (MIX-1)
A mixture of vermiculite and washed sand in a 1:1 proportion (MIX-2).
12
Alternative substrates for growth and production of potted
chrysanthemum (cv. Funny)
Terra et al.,2011
Acta Scientiarum. Agronomy, 33 (3): 465-471

13. 13 Terra et al., 2011

14. 14
Root length of chrysanthemum cv. Funny as a function
of substrate phosphorus concentration.
Terra et al.,2011

15. Terra et al., 2011 15

16. Terra et al., 2011 16

17. Study aims in evaluating the
performance of the conifer wood
biochar as growing substrate, with
progressive substitution of the
peat for ornamental plants.
17
Evaluation of Bio-char as growing substrate for
Ornamental plants
Substrates
100% brown peat
85 % peat- 15% biochar
70 % peat- 30% biochar
55% peat- 45% biochar
40% peat- 60% biochar
Euphobia x lomi Rauh cv. Chiara
Fascella et al., 2013
I st Mediterranean Biochar Symposium

18. 18
Effect of bio-char content in the substrates on growth and
ornamental features of Euphorbia
Fascella et al., 2013

19. 19
Effect of biochar content in the substrates on dry matter
partitioning of E. x lomi potted plants
Fascella et al., 2013

20. Effect of biochar content in the substrates on flowered (%) and
marketable plants (%) of E. x lomi after three months of cultivation
20
Fascella et al., 2013

21. 21
100 % peat 60 % conifer bio-char + 40% peat
Fascella et al., 2013

22. What are desirable properties of growing media?
Through research, desirable properties of growing
medium have been identified
Some desirable properties for growing medium include
organic matter
bulk density
 porosity
 aeration
 pH
 cation exchange capacity
22

23. Changes of physical properties in rock-wool and
glass-wool slabs during hydroponic cultivation
23
of roses
Nowak, 2010
Four mineral wool slabs
1.Grodan – Rockwool with a horizontal fibrous structure
2. Pargro – Rockwool with a horizontal fibrous structure
3. Cultilene – glass wool, homogeneous
4. Bomat – Rockwool, homogeneous
Rose cv. ’Trixx’
Journal of Fruit and Ornamental Plant Research ,18(2) : 349-360

24. Effect of different rockwool and glasswool slabs on the yield, bud
flower diameter, bud flower height, stem length and fresh weight of
24
rose flowers ’Trixx’
Nowak, 2010

25. 25
Grodan Master (◊) Pargro (□)
Cultilene (Δ) Bomat (○).
Effect of the length of the cultivation period on the bulk density
and total pore space of slabs

26. Grodan Master (◊)
Pargro (□)
Cultilene (Δ)
Bomat (○).
26
Effect of the length of the cultivation period on the air content
Air content
Nowak, 2010

27. Effect of Different Substrates on Growth and
Flowering of Dianthus caryophyllus cv. ‘Chauband
Mixed’
American-Eurasian J. Agric. & Environ. Sci., 12 (2): 249-258
27
Yasmeen et al.,2012
Review

28. Evaluation of different potting media on plant
height of carnation
To = Garden Soil, T1 = Leaf compost + silt + FYM (1:1:1),
T2 = Leaf compost + silt (1:1) T3 = Farm yard manure(FYM),
T4 = Silt T5 = Leaf compost + sand (1:1)
Yasmeen et al., 2012 28

29. Evaluation of different potting media on number of
flowers per plant
Media treatments
Yasmeen et al., 2012 29

30. Evaluation of potting media pH of Carnation
T 30 0 T1 T2 T3 T4 T5
Highly
alkaline
Yasmeen et al., 2012

31. Evaluation of potting media total nitrogen percentage of
Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus)
31 Media treatments
Yasmeen et al., 2012

32. 32
Evaluation of potting media available potassium
of Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus)
Yasmeen et al., 2012

33. 33
Plants parameters of growth and flowering such as
plant height
 number of branches/plant
length of branches/plant
number of leaves/plant, leaf area
 least days to first flower emergence
Number of flowers/plant
flower diameter (cm) and
quality of the flowers
Along with
compost and
sand ,Silt and
garden soil
showed good
result
But overall leaf
compost + sand
showed best
results
while, farmyard manure
with higher pH produced
the least results regarding
all plant parameters.
Yasmeen et al., 2012

34. 34
Effects of Different Pot Mixtures on Spathiphyllum
(Spathiphyllum wallisii Regel) Growth and Development
Thirteen pot mixes
Journal of Central European Agriculture, 14(2), p.140-148
Kakoi and Salehi, 2013
L100: Only leaf-mold
S100: Only quartz-sand
P100: Only perlite
L50S50: leaf-mold/quartz-sand (1:1)
L25S75: leaf-mold/quartz-sand (1:3)
L75S25: leaf-mold/quartz-sand (3:1)
P50S50: perlite/quartz-sand (1:1)
P25 S75: perlite/quartz-sand (3:1)
L25P75: leaf-mold/peat moss (1:3)
L50P50: leaf-mold/perlite (1:1)
L75P25: leaf-mold/perlite (3:1)
S25P75: quartz-sand/perlite (1:3)
P33S33L33: perlite/quartz-sand/ leaf-mold
(1:1:1)

35. 35
Effect of growing media on the growth parameters of
Spathiphyllum
Kakoi and Salehi, 2013

36. 36
Effect of different media on root characters and number of suckers per
plant
Kakoi and salehi , 2013

37. 37
Long shoots and roots produced on the Spathiphyllum cuttings production
cultured in P100 medium
Kakoi and Salehi, 2013

38. 38
Influence of vermi-products and Pusa hydrogel on growth
and flowering of landscape gerbera under greenhouse
condition
Verma et al., 2013
Tissue cultured plants of gerbera cv. Yosemite
planted in 10" earthen pots.
The basic plant growth media (M) coco peat, perlite and vermiculite
(CPV) were mixed (4:1:1) and soil alone
VC - Vemi-Compost (20 % v/v)
PHG- Pusa Hydro Gel (0.25 % w/w)
HBM-Horn Bio-Manure (1% w/w)
Amended with
Intl. J. Agric. Env. Biotech. 6(1): 109-115
Vermi-wash (20 % v/v)

39. Effect of different media amendments and vermi-wash concentration on
39 Verma et al., 2013
vegetative growth
of gerbera

40. 40
Control
Effect of different media amendments and vermi-wash
PHG+VC
concentration on vegetative growth
Verma et al., 2013
of gerbera

41. Effect of different media amendments and vermi-wash concentration on
flowering of gerbera
41 Verma et al., 2013

42. 42
Control
PHG+VC
Effect of different media amendments and vermi-wash
concentration on flowering of gerbera
Verma et al., 2013

43. 43

44. 44
Review
New Substrates for Living Walls
Larcher et al.,2013
Proc. IIIrd Int. Conf. on Landscape and Urban Horticulture
Acta Hort. 999, ISHS

45. Possibility of using alternative and eco-compatible
substrates, shredded felt, the industrial residue of the
production of chair felt pads, were chosen for substituting
the coconut fibre
To verify the suitability of this new material and to identify
the better combination of plant and substrate
45
Study aims at
Larcher et al.,2013

46. 46
The residue of the felt pads production
Before
shredding
After shredding
Larcher et al.,2013

47. The phases of the preparation of the panels for substrate SF50_B
47
Larcher et al.,2013

48. 48
 Plant species used for the study
Lonicera nitida
Bergenia cordifolia
Luzula sylvatica
Larcher et al.,2013

49. 49
Influence of substrates on the GI (Growth Index) rate of Lonicera nitida (a) and
Bergenia cordifolia (b). Means followed by the same letter do not differ significantly.
Larcher et al.,2013
Survey No.
GI

50. Comparison among the four different substrates (from left to right: SS-SF50-
SF50_B-SF100) in Lonicera nitida (above) and Bergenia cordifolia
50
(below) at the end of the trial period
Larcher et al.,2013

51. Characterising alternative recycled waste materials for use as
Alternative substrates
clay and sewage sludge (waste clay from excavations, fly ash and sewage sludge),
paper ash (from recycled newspapers)
carbonated limestone (from quarry fines)
51
green roof growing media in the U.K.
Molineux et al., 2009
Plantago lanceolata on roof garden
Ecological Engineering , 35 : 1507–1513

52. 52
Molineux et al., 2009

53. Height of Plantago lanceolata when grown with varying compost
53
quantities in four different aggregates
Molineux et al., 2009

54. 54
Molineux et al., 2009

55. Conclusion
It is difficult to recommend one substrate product
over another
Substrate will vary with the type of plant being
grown
Third generation of intelligent self sustaining growing
media to be realized by the year 2020
55 Thank you