| dc.contributor.author | Alkoaik, Fahad. | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2014-10-21T12:36:13Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2004 | |
| dc.date.issued | 2004 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.other | AAINR02112 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10222/54706 | |
| dc.description | Commercial greenhouse tomato production is an intensive cropping system yielding large volume of crop per surface area and at the same time producing considerable amounts of plant residues as a result of trimming and after harvesting the crop that must be disposed of properly. Since tomato plants are subjected to an intensive use of pesticides to control insects and other disease, the proper management of crop residue is necessary to minimize their adverse effects, especially if the pathogen involved can infect subsequent crops. It was hypothesized that composting, while producing a soil conditioner that could improve soil fertility, could also inactivate plant pathogens and destroy pesticides. The aim of this study was, therefore, to develop an efficient laboratory bioreactor in which the temperature and duration of thermophilic phase of the composting process can be manipulated and controlled in order to investigate the effectiveness of the composting process in inactivating two plant pathogens (Tobacco mosaic virus and Botrytis cinerea) and destroying the insecticide pirimiphos-methyl. | en_US |
| dc.description | The study was carried out in four separate but interrelated stages. In the first stage, an in-vessel laboratory composting system, fully equipped with a mixing unit, controlled aeration unit, thermocouples, and data logger, was developed. In the second stage, the feedstock material (tomato remains) was analyzed for total carbon, total nitrogen and macronutrients and the C:N ratio, the need for nitrogen supplement and bulking agent and the appropriate particle size of the feedstock material were determined. A set of experiments were then conducted to establish the optimum composting conditions. In these experiments, the effects of inoculum size and type and amount of bioavailable carbon source were investigated. In the third stage, a heat balance was performed on the system to determine the heat generated by mixing and metabolic activities and to establish the conditions needed to maintain a constant thermophilic temperature and to extend the duration of the thermophilic phase. In the fourth stage, experiments were conducted to investigate the influence of the established composting condition on the destruction of Tobacco mosaic virus, Botrytis cinerea and the pirimiphos-methyl (Actellic) insecticide. (Abstract shortened by UMI.) | en_US |
| dc.description | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dalhousie University (Canada), 2004. | en_US |
| dc.language | eng | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Dalhousie University | en_US |
| dc.publisher | | en_US |
| dc.subject | Agriculture, Plant Culture. | en_US |
| dc.subject | Engineering, Agricultural. | en_US |
| dc.title | Fate of plant pathogens and pesticides during composting of greenhouse tomato plant residues. | en_US |
| dc.type | text | en_US |
| dc.contributor.degree | Ph.D. | en_US |
