The possibilities of Chinese reed fibres as an environmentally sound organic substrate

Rockwool has been using as a main substrate in vegetable soilless culture since 1980s. On the other hand , the rockwool slabs caused such an amount of indecomposable waste mats every year that soon this problem was brought to attention world widely. The seeking of substitutive substrates was concentrated on reusable inor2 ganic substrates , e. g. polyurethane ( PUR) and organic substrates such as coconut fibres. Chinese reed fibres have been used as organic substrate in vegetable soilless culture since 1991 in Switzer2 land. In the present experiment , the physical and chemical characteristics of Chinese reed were compared with that of pine fibres and coconut fibres before they were used for vegetable cultivation. And its phyto2technical characteristics were compared with that of coconut fibres and recycled PUR mats , with a culture of cherry tomato cv. EVITA. From the data obtained , it is clear that the Chinese reed fibres can be ranged as an acquisition as ecological sound organic substrate. Moreover , it seems more important since the Chinese reed trends to thrive in everywhere in the world and it provides a cheap culture substrate that can contribute to the expansion of the soil2