Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 23 ISSUE 4
Written by Cristina URGHE, Florin SALA

The study analyzed the possibility of capitalizing compost resulting from fermentable organic waste, for the purpose of growing plants. To prepare the growth substrates, compost (Comp) was used in a single variant (V2), as well as in a mixture with peat (Pea) and vermiculite (Ver). Depending on the weight in the mixture (% in volume), the experimental variants resulted: variant V3 – Comp:Pea:Ver, 20:70:10; variant V4 – Comp:Pea:Ver, 30:60:10; variant V5 – Comp:Pea:Ver, 40:50:10. For comparison, a control variant (V1) based on garden soil (GS) was used. The biological material was represented by the species Tagetes patula Durango® Tangerine. The experiment was done on pots. Vegetative parameters, tagetes shoots diameter (TsD), tagetes shoots number (TsN), tagetes plant height (TpH), tagetes plants diameter (TpD) were determined and the ratio TpH/TpD was calculated; floral quality indices, tagetes inflorescence number (TiN), tagetes inflorescence diameter (TiD). The determinations were made during the vegetation period, at six different times, T1 to T6, between March and October. Correlations were identified between the considered parameters and indices. Based on the PCA, the common orientation of the vegetative parameter TpD with the index of floral quality TiD, respectively of the parameter TpH with TiN was found. PC1 explained 45.648% of variance, and PC2 explained 22.774% of variance. Scaling dendrogram resulted for variant classification. Mathematical models resulted through regression analysis, which described the variation of floral quality indices (TiN and TiD) in relation to vegetative parameters, with 3D graphic representation and in the form of isoquants.

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