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Effects of vermicompost teas on plant growth and disease

Article  in  BioCycle · May 2006

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Norman Arancon
University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo
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 Vermicomposting

Developments

RESEARCH TRIALS

EFFECTSOF·VEIMICOMPOST TEAS

ON PLAIT GROWTH AND· DISEASE

HERE is an urgent need to stan­

dardize compost and ve~com­

post tea production methods and

application rates as far as possible

Beneficial response may be due to plant

to increase their effectiveness,

avoid adverse effects and decrease

growth regulators or hormones produced by
human and environmental poten­
tial hazards. Most of the evidence on their

the high microbial activity iit'vermicomposts.

effectiveness in plant growth enhancement

or· disease suppression is anecdotal. There

Clive A. Edwards, Norman Q. Arancon and Scott .Greytak
have been few well-designed experimental
trials or scientific reports that assess their
.. effectiveness or focus on finding optimal
Figors 1. Germinat/o, IIf tomatDes tD the seedling production methods or application rates.
, stagll in respOllse to rennlcompbSt tea applications There are also very few reports on possible
ID the gteBilbOllSe mechanismS by which they promote plant
growth or suppress plant diseases.
PRODUCTION Of VERMJCOIiPOn TEAS
Until recently, our research at Ohio State
University has addressed primarily the ef·
. .'
::.1 •
fects ofsolid vermicomposts on plant germi­
nation and growth and the suppression of
plant diseases. During the last year, we
have -extended our research into similar
studies of the effects of aqueous vermicom­
post extracts or teas on plant growth and
plant diseases. Preliminary research has
demonstrated clearly that teas produced
with aeration are much more stable and ef­
fective than those produced without aera~
tion. The teas were produced by standing 1
liter of vermicompost in 4-liters of aerated
water for 24 hours before draining it off and
placing it in containers for use in green­
Fi!Jlll'll2. GrlIwtIJ of tDIIJSfDes aft. six WIle#cs in Fi!}llfe3. GrlIwtIJ sf fDmatoes house trials. We produced a range of dilu­

rrisPoilSe to regular lI8lJ1IicomPDSt tea applications measured ill fIIIms sfleafarea in tions with tap. water before testing them on

tl plSllIs gttlwillg MII36IJ III thII grellnbDII$B fBSPDllse ts mgu/IltjYll1lll1CDlllpllSf the germination and growth of test plant

tea appHcations to plants growing . species in theJaboratory and greenhouse. '

in MM360 ill thII greBnbouse . For the actdal trial; the effects of a range' :
I of concentrations of'tef:!s produced from cat­
tle waste vermicomposts were tested on the
fj
1,000
germination and growth of tomatoes. All
plants (control and with tea applied) were
grown in a soil-less bedding medium (Metro
~ 800 Mix 360). In addition, all of the treatments

:5 I·.. .~. . . . . . . . . . .
600.j..l
Ii . ...-.--1

received saturation amounts of nutrients.

All of the concentrations used, down to even
as low as 0.5 percent, increased the germi­
o 0.5 1 2 4 8 10 nation and growth of tomato plants signifi­
Pareentl!ge of cattle waste cantly over that in the MM 360 with no tea
vermicompost tea applied applications (Figures 1, 2 and 3). In the first

28 MA.Y2006
 II ,
Preliminary
research
set of experiments, vermicompost teas were
prepared with a dilution range of 0.5 to 10
percent. Teas were applied to tomato trays
at transplanting, and then twice weekly for
eight weeks. Fresh teas were prepared for
Small amounts,.ranging from 250 to 500 mg
dry humic acids per kg of a coi:Q.mercial
growth medium (MM360) were sufficient to
produce significant increases in growth of
tomatoes, peppers, marigolds and strawber­
each application. ries. Additionally, humic acids from vanni­
\ demonstrates that composts produced superior growth com­
EFFECTS O~ GERMINATION AND GROWTH pared with commercial humic acids when
,I
t
teas produced with Several possible mechanisms could ex­ applied at the same rate. Plant growth hor­
! plain the increases in growth of tomatoes. mones, such as auxins, that could be dis­
I·
aeration are much Teas from vermicomposts could possess solved during the brewing period maybe re­
" .: more stable and some of the same beneficial microbiological sponsible for the increases in growth. The
arid chemical characteristics of solid vermi­ tomato plants could have benefited from ei­
effective than those composts. During the "brewing" process, sol­ ther growth hormones or from hormones
uble mineral nutrients, beneficial microor­ that had been adsorbed onto humic acids
t' produced without ganisms, humic and fulvlc acids, plant during vermicomposting being passed into
growth hormones and plant growth regula­ the teas. Since microorganisms could pass
aeration. tors - known to be available in solid vermi­ into the teas during brewing, they could also
:/ compost - are probably extracted into the have multiple benefits on the plants.
tea. These probable beneficial components
j, i . 0" could be the key factors that affect plant PLANT DISEASE SUPPRESSION
d growth positively. Although mineral nutri­ We know much more about the effects of
, 0,
j ents may be present in vermicompost tea, solid composts and vermicomposts on the in.
~1
I
these could not be the main reasons for in­ cidence ofplant diseases than the effects of
creases in growth, since all of the tomato teas produced from composts and vermi­
.'
ll' plants received all necessary nutrients. This composts. There axe many reports in the lit­
leaves microorganisms and plant growth erature of suppression of plant diseases by
i: t regulators such as hormones, humic acids traditional thermophilica1ly-produced solid
and fulvic acids as the most probable mech­ composts. Possible mechanisms for disease
I:if"
r anisms for growth increases of tomatoes. suppression by compo~s that have been
In th!i! past, we have demonstrated con­ suggested include a general suppression of
f clusively in several greenhouse experiments pathogens based on competition by
that humic acids extracted from vermicom­ pathogens and other microorganisms for nu­
, post can affect plant growth positively. trients and energy. More specific suppres­
!:

~
ENVIRONMENT

plicate your life with environmental issues?

.Or us it's child pray!

MA.Y2006
 sion mechanisms may be due to antago­
nisms between pathogens and other mi­
croorganisms, competition for pathogen in­
fection sites, or destruction of pathogen
propagules such as spores.
Recent research in our laboratory has
demonstrated clearly that solid vermicom­
posts also can suppress a range ofplant dis­
eases such as Pythium on radishes andRhi­
zocronia on cucumbers in the greenhouse. In.
addition, low field application rates of ver­
micomposts suppresset,i, Verticillium wilt on
, strawberries, Phom'opsis and powdery
. mildew on grapes and' bacterial rot on cu­
. cumbers. The suppression was clearly mi­
crobial since suppression properties of ver­
micomposts were lost after sterilization of
the vermicomposts.
In more recent experiments, we applied a
range of dilutions ofteas produced from cat­
tle waste vermicompost, to tomato plants in­
fected with Verticillium wilt and assessed
the damage ratings after 14 days (Figure 4).
All of the application rates of teas that were
tested suppressed this plant disease signifi­
cantly. If a broad'range of microorganisms
from vermicomposts pass to teas, their ap­
plications into a disease-infested planting
medium or soil could suppress pathogen at­
tacks by the mechanisms.
I -AUTIONI AND POSSIBLE PROBLEMS
\.. There may be potential human or envi­
ronmental hazards from vermicompost teas,
View publication stats
FlgUfB 4. Suppression ot particularly those prepared from animal
Vertic/Ilium In tomafD plants by the wastes, due to the human pathogens such as
application ofcattle waste coliform bacteria, Salmonella, human en­
vermlcompost tess to the foliage teric viruses, and helminth ova that they
could contain. This hazard could be multi­
2.9
plied if'carbon substrates such as molasses
~2.7 or sugars were added during their prepara­
1! 2.5 tion. Such teas applied to soils as plant
t 2.3
.g 2.1
growth stimulants or to suppress root dis­
eases would probably present few human
III hazards, but they certainly would if used as
~ 1.9
"' 1.7
is
foliar sprays on edible crops. As such, this
should be avoided at all costs, as has been
1~ . .
o 5 .10 20 40 recommended by the Compost Tea Task
Percentage ofvennl¥mpost extract'applled Force Report to the National Organic Stan­
dards Board (www.ams.usda.gov/nosb/
meetings/compostTeaTaskForceFinaI
Report.pdf).
Another factor to take into account is that
the effects of vermicompost teas on plant
growth almost certainly may be due to plant
growth regulators (PGRs) or hOrIDQ'nes pro­
duced by the high microbial activity in ver­
micomposts. Low application rates of PGRa,.
usually promote plant growth, but higher
application rates can actually depress plant
growth, so it must be ensured tq.at the dilu­
tions used are tested critically W~vo!d ~uch
adverse effects. . •
: "alive Edwards, Norman Arancon and Scott
·:··;Greytak are with The Soil Ecology Laboratory
at The Ohio State University in CoJ,uT)'l.bus
(www.biosci.ohio-state.edu I ~S()iJ:ecol/J.