Vegetable Crop Tolerance to Pre-plant Composting of Organic Matter

Several field and greenhouse experiments were conducted during the growing seasons of 2003 and 2004 to evaluate the response of some vegetable crops to pre-plant composting of organic matters at 10 kg.m-2. Composting in field experiments was done under tight cover of polyethylene sheets in the planting row for six weeks. Organic matters included olive pomace, and animal manures from different sources; cow, poultry (broiler and layer), and sheep. The treatment with olive pomace was harmful to all crops except for onions; plants were stunted and leaf area was very much reduced compared with those in the control treatment. Cucumber was sensitive to layer manure. Muskmelon growth was not improved by the treatment with layer manure in as much as other manure treatments. The growth of all crops was significantly increased in the treatments with broiler, cow and sheep manures