Tomato seedling growth response to different water sources and a substrate partially replaced with dewatered aquaculture effluent

Purpose The experiment was performed to determine theeffect a commercial potting mix partially replaced withdewatered aquaculture effluent had on tomato transplantgrowth.Methods The experiment was designed as a 2 9 3 factorialand evaluated two water sources (water-soluble,inorganic fertilizer or municipal water) and three soillesssubstrates with 0, 5 or 10 % dewatered aquaculture effluent(v/v) on substrate properties and tomato (Solanum lycopersicumMill. ‘Bolseno’) transplant growth. The layout wasa completely randomized design with twelve single-potreplications for each treatment.Results There was a substrate and water interactionaffecting plant height, leaf dry matter (LDM), stem drymatter, root dry matter (RDM), and total dry matter(TDM). Tomato plants watered with inorganic fertilizerand grown in substrates replaced with 0 and 5 % dewateredaquaculture effluent had greater LDM, RDM, and TDMcompared to plants watered with municipal water. However,tomato plant growth in substrate partially replacedwith 10 % dewatered aquaculture effluent was similarirrespective of water source.Conclusion Substrates incorporated with 10 % aquacultureeffluent provided optimal physical and chemicalproperties along with sufficient nutrients for tomato transplantswithout the need for commercial, inorganicfertilizer.