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Green walls are seen as an important architectural element in the design of sustainable cities, helping to make cities ecologically rich, green, and healthy places to live. The use of green walls, which have seen a wide range of applications worldwide, is supported mainly because of their potential in combating climate change, and international standards are being developed for the design, implementation, and monitoring of green wall projects. In this study, the effects of different growing media used in green wall systems on plant area and the increase in green wall performance were evaluated using an indirect monitoring technique. Peat, hazelnut husks, rice hulls and perlite were mixed in different proportions to produce the growing media, and their physical and chemical properties were determined. Western red cedar (Thuja plicata) and boxwood (Buxus sempervirens L.) were used for planting the green wall. To measure the growth of the green wall and the planting area, images were taken and examined after planting and at the end of the growing period. According to the findings of this study, we found that growing media with a high water holding capacity and high organic matter content were more successful in terms of increasing plant area and green wall performance. However, factors such as pH and phosphorus were found to have negative effects on plant growth. In addition, it was determined that the physical and chemical properties of the growing media used in green wall systems are important for the plant area in green wall systems and that a balanced optimization of these properties increases the efficiency of green walls. The results obtained in this study show that the use of indirect monitoring techniques is a fast and effective method for monitoring the development of green wall systems. The appropriate use of this technique could be an effective tool for the standardization of installation and could contribute efficiently to the maintenance of green wall systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commercial turfgrass cultivation is one of the main ornamental industries world-wide; however, successive turfgrass sod cutting from the same site removes surface soil, leading to a decline in soil organic matter, impairment of soil fertility and degradation of environment. The present study was aimed to investigate the applicability of poultry abattoir sludge compost (PASC) and biochar (BC) on the establishment of turfgrass by evaluating plant growth performance and mitigation of soil loss by organic waste amendments. The experimental study was designed on the soil which had originally low-organic matter content and previously used as a turfgrass sod harvested site in a sandy loam soil. Incorporation of PASC to soil improved the physicochemical properties in terms of bulk density (BD), water holding capacity (WHC), cation exchange capacity (CEC), pH, total nitrogen, total organic carbon (TOC), and organic matter (OM) by 37 (±2)%, 45 (±3)%, 55 (±3)%, 21 (±2)%, 48 (±2)%, 90 (±10)%, and 96 (±4)%, respectively. PASC-amended treatments enhanced the turfgrass growth rate more than the BC due to its increased nutrient availability. Incorporation of 100 Mg ha–1 (mega gram per hectare) PASC in surface soil with or without BC decreased the mineral soil removal rate by half of the respective soil (control) treatments. The results of the present study confirmed the utilization of PASC and BC as promising agro-industrial-based fertilizers in turfgrass sod production for sustainable soil and nutrient management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study poultry manure and biomass ash at various ratio and temperatures were mixed and effects of hot biomass ash on removal of pathogens from poultry manure were investigated. Microbiological analysis carried out within the context of the study for pathogen examination (Termotolerant Coliform, Salmonella, E.coli Enterokok) in samples were performed by using ready media. According to the results obtained in the study, Salmonella and E. coli were not found in pure poultry manure and all other mixtures. However, 25x103 cfu/g Thermotolerant Coliform and 7.2x103 cfu/g Enterococcus were detected in pure poultry manure. The Thermotolerant Coliform and Enterococcus contents, initially detected on raw poultry manure were completely removed in applications using 50% biomass ash at all the temperatures. However, in applications of 200 oC and 250 oC, it was sufficient to use 40% of the biomass ash to completely remove both the Thermotolerant Coliform and Enterococcus contents. The results show that the hot biomass ash can be used to eliminate the pathogen microorganism content of poultry manure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most widely used growing media in the production of potted ornamental plants is peat. However, the studies for alternative solutions are being conducted due to the reasons such as restricted peat sources, high cost, destruction of natural environment due to peat production and variability in the quality of produced peat. In the relevant literature, there are two basic ideas on which the studies have focused on. The first one is the development of new growing media using organic-origin wastes, the second one is the preparation of the mixtures in which organic and inorganic materials are used as a component of growingmediums. In this study which was prepared in parallel with the relevant main ideas in the literature, the effects of perlite utilization on the physical properties of indigenous peat, and on those of the growing media obtained from hazelnut cinder, which is among agricultural organic materials in our country and has considerable potential to be the most important alternative of peat, were investigated. For this purpose, the physical properties of the growing medium, prepared by mixing perlite with raw peat and hazelnut husk, at various ratios (10,15,20,25%), were investigated, and the results obtained were compared with sphagnum peat, and with desired properties for ideal growing medium, in the literature. When the results obtained from the study were examined, it was seen that as well as the highest values were observed in the mixtures using 25% perlite, The perlite addition increased the porosity of raw peat by 68.25% and air capacity by 30.03%, and that the hazelnut husk decreased air capacity, higher than the ideal values, by 47.19%,thus approximating it its ideal value range. With increasing perlite ratio in the mixtures, the organic substance contents and water holding capacities of the growing medium decreased as their pH values increased. However, in applications using 25% Perlite, the shrinkage rates of raw peat and hazelnut husk were found as 17.05% and 6.41% respectively, and the water resuction times of those were found as 1.52 and 1.21 minutes, respectively. Based on these results, it can be said that the most important contribution of perlite utilization for raw peat and hazelnut husk is to decrease shrinkage rates and water resuction times, and that this improvement will avail in preventing the damages that occur in plant roots due to drying and shrinking of the growing media, and in decreasing the irrigation frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study was to develop structurally stable, nutrient-rich and environmentally safe growing media by combining waste material: crop residue hazelnut husk (HH) and municipal sewage sludge. In order to achieve this goal, lignocellulosic HH residue was mixed with nutrient-rich sewage sludge (S) in various proportions: HH 100%; HH + S1 87.5%: 12.5%; HH + S2 75%:25%; HH + S3 50%:50%. Following composting, the key physical, chemical and microbiological properties of the growing media were characterized for long-term ornamental nursery crops. The addition of S to the mixture had both significant detrimental and remedial effects on physical properties such as reduced total porosity and water-holding capacity, whilst improved the air capacity, wettability and shrinkage. S content of growing media significantly enriched the plant nutrients, especially the most desired soluble and organic nitrogen fractions and micro nutrients. Germination tests and microbiological analysis confirmed the products as environmentally safe ornamental growing media. We conclude that composting of HH with S is a viable alternative for the development of nutrient-rich growing media and recycling of such waste in the ornamental industry could be a beneficial method in order to sustain waste management and crop production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]