Bamboo Powder as an Ingredient of Potting Substrates for Horticultural Plants

抄録

As the spreading of abandoned bamboo forests is becoming a serious problem in Japan, new possible uses for bamboo biomass are being sought toward controlling their further spread. In the present study, we investigated the potential of bamboo powder substrates in cultivation of horticultural plants as well as for bamboo powder to be used as a soil supplement in potting substrate recycling. Twenty varieties of ornamental flowering species were sown either in a conventional potting substrate or bamboo powder substrates. After 30 days, the cumulative germination rate of each variety was not affected by the type of substrate the plants were grown in. Although the overall plant growth of pot French marigold, pansy, and strawberry showed a tendency of being inferior in the bamboo powder substrates compared with the conventional potting substrate, it was improved by the addition of compost. The growth of French marigold also improved when the fermented bamboo powder substrate was additionally fertilized. We found that the microbiota present in the recycled potting substrate containing fermented bamboo powder was similar to that found in fresh potting substrate. These results indicate that bamboo substrate has great potential to be employed both as a growing substrate for various garden plants and as a soil supplement in recycling of used potting substrate.