Effect of plant growth on some physical properties of potting culture media

Background Physical properties of substrates consideredappropriate for plant growth at planting may change overtime in containers as a result of several processes. Changesinclude air space reduction, shrinkage of the substrate,organic matter decomposition, and physical breakdown ofparticles. The objective of this research was to evaluate thephysical properties of date palm waste as culture media andits effect on number and yield of tomato fruit.Results The experiment was conducted as factorial in acompletely randomized block design with 9 treatments and3 replications. Treatments included three sizes (S1 =.5,S2 = 0.5–1, and S3 = 1–2 cm) and three composting times(C1 = 0, C2 = 3, and C3 = 6 months) of date palm waste.Statistical analysis showed that the values of bulk density(BD) and water holding capacity (WHC) were significantlyincreased at the end of cultivation from culture mediawithout plant in comparison to before and after planting(p.05). Amounts of Ft (total porosity) in culture mediawithout plant were significantly higher than those in culturemedia before planting and with plant (p.05). Alsoduring the experiment, an apparent shift in physical propertieswas recorded.Conclusion The overall results of this research indicatedthat composting process changed the physical properties ofthe media before planting. Also during the experiment, anapparent shift in physical properties was recorded. Theresults of the study showed that composting processescontinued in culture media with and without plant, in themean time, the composting processes were higher in culturemedia without plant.