Suitability of sand amended with carbonized rice husks and goat manure as a growing medium

Abstract

A laboratory experiment was conducted at Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB). The study determined a suitable and alternative growing medium to peat moss as an unaffordable medium to Rwandan farmers and soil-based growing media which produce low quality transplants. Growing media were formulated from sand (S) amended with carbonized rice husks (CRH) and goat manure (GM) and peat moss (PM). Nine treatments were formed and applied in a completely randomized design (CRD) with four replications. The growing media were analysed for physical and chemical properties including bulk density (BD) and total porosity (Po), organic matter (OM), organic carbon (OC), total nitrogen (TN), phosphorous, potassium, pH and electrical conductivity (EC). Data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance and means were separated using HSD test at p≤ 0.05. The results revealed that there were significant differences among the formulated growing media but not in the pH. T5, T6, T7, T8 and T9 resulted in good physical and chemical properties as growing media for crop production. Key words: Sand, peat moss, goat manure, topsoil and carbonized rice husks.