Abstract

LOPEZ, Glenny et al. Caracterización biológica de suelos y sustratos empleados en la producción de vegetales en invernaderos. Cienc. suelo [online]. 2014, vol.32, n.1, pp.29-39. ISSN 1850-2067.

About 85% of the vegetable production under controlled conditions (greenhouse) in the Dominican Republic occurs with substrates as growth media and the rest uses soil (15%). The quality of a soil and / or a substrate can be described on the basis of its physical, chemical and biological properties. In a substrate, biological activity is undesirable; in soils, it is indicative of having a high quality. The objective of this study was to biologically assess soils and substrates used for vegetable production under greenhouses. Microbial biomass (MB), carbon biomass (BC), nitrogen biomass (BN) and basal respiration (BR) were determined in samples collected from 166 greenhouses (38 soils and 128 substrates) at four locations. The sample size was obtained from a 5% probability sampling and distributed proportionally according to the number of greenhouses in each production mode. In the evaluated areas, there were ten types of substrates made from charcoal rice (CR), rice husk (RH) and coconut fiber (CF). The results differed significantly in soils and substrates with respect to the localities. The CR substrates had higher BC and BN, while CF substrates had greater BR. The results showed a higher microbial activity in substrates with higher organic matter. It appears that all organic substrates, even the most stable, are susceptible to degradation. This suggests that despite of its degradability, these substrates are valuable and promising for plant production in greenhouses, but their composition needs to be improved so that the producers can extend the life of the substrate used.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )