Design and Evaluation of Peat-Free Blocking Media

大田蔬菜和沙拉作物的生产高度依赖移栽秧苗，这些秧苗生长在通常含有泥炭的培养基中。泥炭的开采有不利的环境后果，包括二氧化碳的释放、生物多样性的丧失和洪水风险的增加，英国政府正在逐步淘汰这种开采。商业无泥炭生长介质已经开发出来，然而，虽然这些介质适合用于塑料模块化托盘，但它们的粘结性不足以产生更大的“土壤块”，而这些“土壤块”被种植者更广泛地用于某些关键作物。此外，尽管这是一个不断增长的市场领域，但很少有有机解决方案存在。因此，该项目将开发有机的、无泥炭的生长介质，适合于在苗圃阶段和移栽到田地期间由现有机械处理的块状作物。然而，这些研究结果也将与传统生产有关，因为确保从播种到移栽的块块完整性的基本问题是相同的。该项目将研究一系列潜在的材料，重点关注英国可用的材料，以提供有弹性的、基于当地的解决方案。测试材料的选择将在文献回顾和通过与不断增长的媒体行业代表协商对“最新技术”进行评估之后进行。调查将确保介质在田间压制、播种、幼苗生长、运输和种植的整个过程中保持一致。在对特定混合物的特性进行测量的基础上，将开发一个计算机模型来量化各种成分的影响。最成功的培养基将由Delfland苗圃进行后续测试。Delfland将利用商业规模的设备和设施，对选定的培养基混合物的性能进行评估，并与以泥炭为基础的对照进行比较。重复试验将评估生菜移栽试验作物的生长和质量。这些试验的移栽植物将由Riverford Organic Farmers在经过认证的有机土地上种植，并使用农场规模的设备进行进一步评估，以确定块状植物的坚固性以及介质对作物产量和质量的影响。最后，为了确定新型无泥炭生长介质的经济可行性，将使用部分预算方法进行农场-企业成本效益分析，以考虑生物/生态经济供应链的所有相关阶段。每种提议的材料和混合物的更广泛的环境影响将被量化。

The production of field vegetables and salad crops is highly dependent on transplanted seedlings that are grown in media often containing peat. The mining of peat has adverse environmental consequences including the release of CO2, biodiversity loss and increased risk of flooding and is being phased out by the UK government. Commercial peat-free growing media have been developed, however whilst these are suitable for use in plastic modular trays they are not cohesive enough to produce the larger 'soil blocks' that are more widely used by growers for certain key crops. Furthermore, few organic solutions exist, despite this being a growing market sector.This project will therefore develop organic, peat-free growing media suitable for producing blocks that can be handled by existing machinery at both the plant nursery stage and during transplanting into the field. However, the findings will also be relevant for conventional production as the basic problem of ensuring the integrity of the blocks from sowing until transplanting is the same.The project will investigate a range of potential materials, concentrating on materials available in the UK to provide a resilient, locally-based solution. The selection of test materials will be made following a literature review and assessment of the 'state of the art' through consultation with growing media industry representatives. Investigations will ensure that the media hold together throughout the whole process of pressing, seeding, seedling growth, transport, and planting in the field. To build on the measurements made of the properties of particular blends a computer model will be developed to quantify the effect of the various ingredients. The most successful media will be identified for subsequent testing by Delfland Nurseries.Delfland will evaluate the performance of selected growing media blends, in comparison with a peat based control, using commercial scale equipment and facilities. Replicated trials will assess the growth and quality of test crops of lettuce transplants. The plant transplants from these trials will be further evaluated after planting out by Riverford Organic Farmers, on certified-organic land and using farm scale equipment to determine the robustness of blocks and the effect of the media on crop yield and quality.Finally, to determine economic viability of the novel peat-free growing media a farm-business cost-benefit analysis will be conducted using partial budgeting methodology to consider all relevant stages of the bio/eco-economy supply chain. The wider environmental effects of each of the proposed materials and blends will be quantified.