Community compost beats manure-based compost for drought-proofing plants
De Carolis C, Barra Caracciolo A, Álvarez-Alonso C, Bustamante MA, Grenni P
Composting
If you compost at home using kitchen scraps and yard trimmings, this study suggests your pile could be doing more than feeding your soil, it may actually help your plants shrug off dry spells better than store-bought manure-based composts.
Scientists tested four kinds of compost, made from things like food scraps, poultry manure, and olive waste mixed with pig manure, to see which best helped rosemary plants survive both degraded soil and drought. The compost made from household and yard waste plus donkey manure won out: it made the soil healthier and helped plants lose less growth during water shortages, with no nasty side effects. The manure-heavy composts, by contrast, boosted plant growth somewhat but came with a downside: they introduced antibiotic-resistant genes into the soil and one was actually toxic to small aquatic creatures and seedlings.
Key Findings
Community-scale compost (CA, made from municipal organic waste, yard trimmings, and donkey manure) best protected rosemary from drought-induced biomass loss while improving soil microbial health with no toxic effects.
Compost from olive pomace and pig manure (TO) grew the biggest plants overall, likely due to higher phosphorus and easily available nutrients, but introduced antibiotic resistance genes into the soil.
Poultry manure compost (UP) also introduced antibiotic resistance genes and its soil water extracts were toxic to water fleas (Daphnia magna) and garden cress (Lepidium sativum).
chevron_right Technical Summary
Compost made from community food and yard waste helped rosemary plants survive drought better and made degraded soil healthier, all without the antibiotic-resistance risks or toxicity seen with composts made from animal manure.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Effectiveness of composts from decentralised composting scenarios to promote degraded soil restoration and R. officinalis drought resilience.
Soil degradation and water scarcity affect crop productivity and ecosystem resilience. Biotechnological strategies based on organic waste valorisation offer promising tools for restoring soil ferti...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Species Mentioned
Was this useful?
Want to tell us more? (optional)
Thanks for the note!
Something went wrong — please try again.
Too many submissions. Try again in an hour.
Gene editing removes 97% of celiac-triggering proteins from bread wheat
It could mean that people with celiac disease — roughly 1 in 100 worldwide — may one day safely eat bread made from real wheat, without sacrificing the taste...
Salvia rosmarinus, synonym Rosmarinus officinalis, commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and purple or sometimes white, pink, or blue flowers. It is a member of the mint family, Lamiaceae.