Research Papers: Application of Municipal Solid Waste Compost to Nematode-Infected Citrus

Abstract

One of the most acute problems facing the more affluent countries of an over-populated world is the accumulation of its wastes, specifically in urban areas. Historically, trash has been dumped outside the window, outside the town or in a sanitary (or unsanitary) landfill. The recent environmental movement has indirectly brought focus upon the potential value of municipal refuse, and current technology has proposed alternatives to the usual indiscriminate throw-away practices. The only logical alternative yet proposed has been the transformation of municipal wastes into a workable agricultural compost. During the past 11 yrs. a number of tests have been conducted in which refuse compost has been applied at rates up to 18 MT/ha (8 T/A) to hothouse lemon seedlings infected with Tylenchulus semipenetrans or Pratylenchus coffeae and to field plantings of Valencia orange trees infected with Radopholus similis. Hothouse applications resulted in increased plant weight and improved plant appe