The treatment of livestock waste is a key aspect in environmental management. It is a matter of taking advantage of those materials that are discarded from the production facilities and valuing them through the production of energy and fertilizers, which contributes to the sustainability of the chains and allows the consolidation of a virtuous circle.
In this line, INTA specialists together with the National University of Luján and the Institute of Floriculture of the INTA Natural Resources Research Center, implemented compost obtained from deep bed residues to produce flowers, violas and petunias.
According to Laura Magri –currently an extensionist at INTA Arrecifes, Buenos Aires– “the compost from the residues of the swine deep bedding system is a valuable resource that can be used as a soil improver and/or component of substrates, representing a benefit for the producer since it is a technique that allows recovering and valuing waste”.
In this sense, Magri highlighted that “complementary fertilization is avoided, costs are reduced and environmental impacts associated with waste are mitigated.”
For several years, in Argentina, pig producers have used the system known as “deep bedding” or “deep bedding” which uses facilities where the concrete floor is replaced by a bed of hay, rice husks, corn leaves, wheat straw, pine shavings, sawdust or other well-dehydrated material.
Among the materials currently used to formulate substrates and spread as an alternative to the use of soil and peat, are composts obtained from organic waste. Thus, the environmental impact is mitigated and waste is transformed into a useful resource for other productive activities.
For the test, Magri explained that “they used 20% compost from swine deep bedding residues – obtained by passive, forced and mechanical aeration – as a component of substrates for growing violas and petunias.”
In this line, Magri explained that the waste generated in these production systems is made up of the material used as bedding and partially decomposed animal manure. “These materials can be treated and valued through composting, a bio-oxidative process that sanitizes and stabilizes solid organic waste, transforming it into a valuable resource that can be used as a soil improver and/or component of substrates,” he indicated.
The Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires is the main flower area in the country with approximately 60% of the productions and where the most advanced cultivation techniques are applied, totally under greenhouse. There, the establishments dedicated to the activity are divided into four production subsystems: cut flowers with 43%; plants and flowers in containers with 31%; ornamental trees and shrubs 6%; and another that results from the combination of any of the aforementioned, by 20%.
