Journal of Plant Nutrition

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Influence of sugar cane compost as potting media

on vegetative growth, and some biochemical
parameters of Pelargonium × hortorum

Amirhossein Najarian & Mohammad Kazem Souri

To cite this article: Amirhossein Najarian & Mohammad Kazem Souri (2020) Influence
of sugar cane compost as potting media on vegetative growth, and some biochemical
parameters of Pelargonium × hortorum, Journal of Plant Nutrition, 43:17, 2680-2684, DOI:
10.1080/01904167.2020.1783305

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/01904167.2020.1783305

Published online: 24 Jun 2020.

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JOURNAL OF PLANT NUTRITION
2020, VOL. 43, NO. 17, 2680–2684
https://doi.org/10.1080/01904167.2020.1783305

Influence of sugar cane compost as potting media on

vegetative growth, and some biochemical parameters of
Pelargonium 3 hortorum
Amirhossein Najariana and Mohammad Kazem Sourib
a
Department of Horticultural Science, Islamic Azad University of Karaj, Karaj, Iran; bDepartment of
Horticultural Science, Tarbiat Modarres University, Tehran, Iran

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Compost produced from sugarcane bagasse was substituted at a range of Received 7 March 2020
different concentrations into soil bedding medium mixture, to evaluate Accepted 30 May 2020
their effects on the growth of Pelargonium
hortorum. Plants were grown
KEYWORDS
in a substrate mixture (25% leaf compost; 25% cow manure; 50% garden
essential elements;
soil (volume) as control and substitution with different rates of sugarcane geranium; growth traits;
bagasse compost of 20%, 30%, 40%, 80% and 100% were applied in three sugarcane bagasse compost
replications. The results showed that application of sugarcane compost
started to stimulate plant growth at 20% level and continued over other
levels; however, there was no significant difference among sugarcane com-
post levels regarding many growth traits. Application of low rates particu-
larly 20% resulted in the highest record regarding many morphological
traits including number of leaves, lateral stems, flowering shoots, flowers,
inflorescence diameter, main shoot diameter, shoot and root biomass, and
phosphorus concentration. Moreover, nitrogen and potassium concentra-
tions were highest at 40% treatment. A positive increase in chlorophyll a
but not chlorophyll b was found by application of all levels of sugarcane
compost compared to control plants.

Introduction
Bagasse is one of the crop residues from the sugar cane industry. Sugarcane bagasse, which is a
mixed material, is the major by-product of the sugar cane industry. It has about 50% cellulose,
25% hemicellulose and 25% lignin. It consists different soil fertility effectors including organic
matter, nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, which are the most needed essential nutrients for
plant growth. Advancements in industrial biotechnology suggest potential opportunities for eco-
nomic utilization of agro-industrial residues such as sugarcane bagasse. Composting of sugar cane
pulp is a suitable waste management with low-technology and offers a stimulant to the farmer.
Due to its simple availability, it can serve as an ideal stratum for microbial processes for the pro-
duction of value-added products (Pandey et al. 2000).
Sugarcane is generally used as a feedstock for ethanol and sugar production (Rezende et al.
2011). After sugarcane is milled for production, bagasse is obtained as a waste (Betancur and
Pereira Jr 2010), and it is generally discarded as agricultural waste. Sometimes it is burned to
minimize its disposal problems and environmental impacts; however, bagasse’s sewage sludge-
based composting represents beneficial perspectives for agricultural applications. From ecological

CONTACT Amirhossein Najarian najarian77@gmail.com Department of Horticultural Science, Islamic Azad University of
Karaj, Karaj, Iran
ß 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
 JOURNAL OF PLANT NUTRITION 2681

Table 1. Chemical properties of container media and sugarcane compost.

Medium pH Conductivity (mmhos/cm) Total N (%) Organic C (%) Total P (%) Total K (%)
Sugarcane compost 6.0 4.50 3.70 62.0 1.7 0.6
Soil 5.8 1.35 0.43 31.78 0.15 1.59
Leaf compost 8.0 1.75 1.16 1.16 0.2 0.6
Cow dung compost 6.8 2.84 4.63 51.7 3.2 3.3

point of view as well as health issues, displacement of chemical fertilizers with natural stimulants
and biological fertilizers has gained much attention during recent decades (Hu and Barker 2004;
Mohammadipour and Souri 2019; Souri and Bakhtiarizade 2019). In addition, raw crop residues
or processed by-products can serve as soil amendments and agriculture growing media (Neel,
Burt, and Busey 1978).
Physical enhancements in soils amended with compost of sugarcane by product through add-
ition of organic matter seems to be the simplest potential smart factor regarding these materials
to enhance plant growth, while they also act as a partial substitution for chemical N and K fertil-
ization (Stoffella and Graetz, 2000; Boopathy, Beary, and Templet 2001; Meunchang,
Panichsakpatana, and Weaver 2005; Mathews and Thurkins 2006). The composting method
should also eliminate potential toxicities or allopathic effects of sugarcane residues (Viator et al.
2006). Therefore, the present research was conducted to study the effect of substitution of grow-
ing substrate with sugarcane bagasse compost on growth traits of Pelargonium
hortorum.

Materials and methods

A mature compost of sugarcane bagasse, leaf compost, cow dung compost, were prepared and
collected from a commercial center near Tehran, Iran. The experiment was conducted in a green-
house located in Shahriar, South-West of Tehran-Iran. The basic chemical properties of all media
used, the sugarcane compost, cow dung compost, leaf compost, and the soil are summarized in
Table 1. The potted soil was prepared as a mixture of cow dung compost (25% volume), leaf
compost (25% volume), garden soil (50% volume). Different levels of sugarcane bagasse sewage
sludge-based compost were added to post soil as six treatments including: (1) Control (the soil
mixture without sugarcane bagasse compost), (2) application of 20% (V/V) sugarcane bagasse
compost to the soil mixture, (3) application of 30% (V/V) sugarcane bagasse compost to the soil
mixture, (4) application of 40% (V/V) sugarcane bagasse compost to the soil mixture, (5) applica-
tion of 40% (V/V) sugarcane bagasse compost to the soil mixture, (6) application of 100% (V/V)
sugarcane bagasse compost to the soil mixture,.
Uniform size Pelargonium
hortorum plants (Pelargonium
hortorum L. H. Bailey) were
planted in 3 kg black plastic pots. They were arranged in a completely randomized design with
three replications. Plants were grown for about 15 weeks. Fertigation with Melspray solution
(1 g L–1) was done manually three times during growth period. Geranium plants were grown
under natural light (>800 lmol m2 s1) at a day temperature of 26  C ± 4  C and night tempera-
ture of 16  C ± 2  C and RH of 50 ± 5%. After the establishment of plants, they were monitored
carefully and precisely.
Some growth parameters were measured during experimental period including numbers of
leaves, numbers of lateral stems, numbers of flowers shoots, numbers of flowers, flowering shoot
length (mm), flowering shoot diameter (mm), inflorescence diameter (mm), main shoot diameter.
Fresh and dry weights (g) of the aerial parts and roots were recorded using a digital balance. The
average concentration of leaf chlorophyll a and b was measured following Moran’s (1982)
method, using, N-dimethylformamide (DMF) as the solvent to extract chlorophyll. The total
amount of nitrogen was measured using the Kjeldahl digestion method (Schuman, Stanley, and
Knudsen 1973). For determination of P and K, leaf samples were dry-ashed at 500  C and then
2682 A. NAJARIAN AND M. K. SOURI

Table 2. The effect of sugarcane bagasse compost treatments on some morphological traits of Pelargonium
hortorum.
Numbers Numbers Flowering Flowering
of of shoot shoot Inflorescence Main shoot
Numbers lateral flowering Numbers length diameter diameter diameter
Treatments of leaves stems shoots of flowers (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm)
Control 16.8b 1b 0.55d 10.6c 1.2d 0.47d 0.45b 1b
20% SBCa 36.1a 2.4a 2a 57.1a 7.6a 2.8a 1.26a 1.3a
30% SBC 30.2a 2.4a 1.1bcd 28b 4.8b 1.1c 1.15b 1.2ab
40% SBC 30.2a 2.3a 1.3abc 29.2b 5.1b 1.7b 1.21a 1.3a
80% SBC 34.8a 1.4ab 0.77cd 14.4c 3.05c 0.94c 0.54b 1.07b
100% SBC 17.8b 2.2a 1.5ab 25b 6.6a 2.5a 1.21b 1.1b
F test        
a
SBC indicate sugarcane bagasse compost.
, , and ns indicate significant effect of treatments at p ¼ 0.05, p ¼ 0.01, and not significant effect, respectively.
Mean values within a column followed by different letters indicate significant differences according to Dancan’s test (p  0.05).

following acid digestion, leaf phosphorus (P) was determined by the Vanadomolybdophosphoric
method (Kacar and Intal 2008), and potassium (K) was determined by flame photometer. The
data were analyzed by MSTAT-CVersion10.2 using the Duncan test at a significance level of 0.05.

Results
The results in Tables 2 and 3 showed the effects of adding different levels of sugarcane bagasse
compost as potting media on some growth characteristics of Pelargonium
hortorum. The results
showed that the plants grown in the potting mixture with 20% sugarcane bagasse compost tended
to have more number of leaves, number of lateral stems, number of flowering shoots and number
of flowers than plants grown in control. Improvement in morphological traits including plant size
and flowering characteristics started at a significant level with 20% adding of sugarcane compost
and continued to other higher levels treatments (Table 2). The superiority of growth compared to
control was continued over application of sugarcane compost up to 80% of pot volume, as for
most of traits there was no significant difference among treatments of sugarcane compost levels.
The flowering shoot length and diameter of plants grown in 20% sugarcane bagasse compost had
a longer size than plants grown in control media. Inflorescence diameter and main shoot diam-
eter of plants were higher when they were grown in 20% sugarcane bagasse compost compared to
untreated control plants (Table 2).
The shoot fresh weight of plants was significantly increased by application of sugarcane com-
post (Table 3). The highest increase in plant soot fresh weight was recorded in those plants
grown in 20% sugarcane bagasse compost. Plant root fresh weight was significantly increased in
plants grown in 20% sugarcane compost and there was no significant difference among other
treatments compared to control plants. However, root dry weight was significantly increased by
all levels of sugarcane compost (except those grown in 100% sugarcane compost) compared to
control plants (Table 3).
Leaf N concentration was significantly increased by application of all levels of sugarcane com-
post except at 100% level compared to control plants (Table 3). The leaf potassium concentrations
were also increased by all levels of sugarcane application except 80% level compared to control
plants (Table 3). Nevertheless, the highest concentration of N and K was in those plants grown in
40% sugarcane compost. Regarding leaf P, application of 20% and 30% sugarcane compost
showed no significant difference with control plants and application of 80% and 100% signifi-
cantly reduced leaf P concentration compared to control plants (Table 3). The concentration of
leaf chlorophyll a was significantly increased following application of all levels of sugarcane com-
post, while leaf concentration of chlorophyll b was not affected by treatments (Table 3). The high-
est concentration of chl a was in those plants grown in 30% sugarcane compost and the lowest
concentration was in control plants.
 JOURNAL OF PLANT NUTRITION 2683

Table 3. The effect of sugarcane bagasse compost treatments on some growth and biochemical traits of
Pelargonium
hortorum.
Nitrogen Potassium Phosphorus Chl. a Con. Chl. b Con.
Treatments Shoot FW (g) Root FW (g) Root DW (g) (% dwt) (% dwt) (% dwt) (mg/g) (mg/g)
Control 22.99d 6.94b 0.71b 2.32c 1.56d 0.27a 1025d 1236a
20% SBCa 69.01a 13.40a 1.69a 2.40b 1.73b 0.30a 1320b 1248a
30% SBC 36.36c 9.47b 1.40a 2.44b 1.77b 0.29a 1390a 1255a
40% SBC 38.92c 9.04b 1.53a 2.53a 1.97a 0.24b 1333b 1254a
80% SBC 36.56c 9.35b 1.60a 2.46ab 1.68d 0.23b 1150c 1249a
100% SBC 48.79b 7.02b 1.19ab 2.34c 1.70c 0.24b 1200c 1235a
F test        
a
SBC indicate sugarcane bagasse compost.
,  and ns indicate significant effect of treatments at p ¼ 0.05, p ¼ 0.01, and not significant effect, respectively.
Mean values within a column followed by different letters indicate significant differences according to Duncan’s test (p  0.05).

Discussion
In the present study, application of sugarcane bagasse compost at different levels, especially at the
low rates, had promoting effects on the growth and some biochemical traits of pelargoniums. The
plant growth stimulation was started just at 20% level of sugarcane compost application, as the
maximum number of leaves, number of lateral stems, number of flowering shoots and number of
flowers were obtained from this treatment. In addition, progressive increase in the substrate levels
until 40% was found to be stimulatory for nitrogen and potassium concentrations of leaves.
However, phosphorus at low application levels of sugarcane compost showed no difference with
control and by higher levels (80% and 100%) significantly reduced compared to control plants.
Sugarcane bagasse is a good source of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin (Avio and Giovannetti
1998; Gryndler et al. 2003). With higher rates of sugar that are still existed in the bagasse, makes
it a very suitable substrate for composting and microbial growth compared to many other crop
wastes. Over composting the converting of organic wastes is maximized into simpler products
and molecules that are useful for plant growth (Stantiford 1987). Microbial decomposition and
mineralization of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, and bagasse proteins release more mineral
nutrients into the soil solution (Naiji and Souri 2018). Moreover, by increasing soil microbial
activity higher solubility of inherent soil minerals can occur that enhance the bioavailability of
nutrients (Marschner, 2011Marschner, 2011). Application of compost has been shown to signifi-
cantly increase soil minerals including N, P, Ca, Mg and particularly trace minerals that are
required for plant growth (Meunchang, Panichsakpatana, and Weaver 2005). Improvement in
physical soil properties by application of sugarcane compost may also contributed in observed
better plant growth. Nevertheless, changes in and positive effects on soil physico chemical proper-
ties by amendment with organic matter can generally result in better plant growth responses
(Sousa et al. 2012). Many functioning organic groups in composted sugarcane can act to absorb
or to make loosely complexes with mineral nutrient and to make them more available to plant
roots for a longer and affective periods (Souri 2016).
In conclusion, sugarcane wastes are produced in high amounts in some parts of the world as
well as in south west of Iran that its disposal sometimes is a great problem for related industries
around. Composting of sugarcane bagasse produces a high value substrate that can be used for
potting medium of ornamentals particularly pelargoniums. Application of different rates (% pot
volume) of this substrate in this study showed that it has stimulation effects on plant growth.
However, for most traits there was no difference among applied levels of sugarcane compost.

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