Effect of licorice residue vermicompost on growth and development of African violets

One way to use organic waste is to convert it to vermicompost, which helps protect the environment and its safely dispose. Their passage through the gastrointestinal tract of the worms causes them to decompose and become useful substances for plant growth. One of the organic wastes in Iran is the residues of licorice processing factories, which, when digested by earthworms, may be used as organic fertilizer for plants. African violets is an important potted flowering plant that is considered for some characteristics such as drought and heat tolerance and proper growth in the shade. In this experiment, the effect of application of licorice root residue vermicompost on African violet plant in a completely randomized design with five treatments and four replications using peat moss (P) and licorice root residue vermicompost (LV) and perlite was investigated. Fifty percent of the bedding volume was perlite and the rest included different volume ratios of peat moss and vermicompost as LV0P50, LV10P40, LV20P30, LV30P20 and LV40P10. The results showed that in the bed containing 10% vermicompost, the highest appearance quality (9.12), fresh (68.32 g) and dry (4.49 g) weight of shoots, diameter (3.45 cm) and number (53.0) of florets, inflorescence length (8.5 cm) and leaf soluble sugar content (1.12 mgg-1) were observed. Root volume and length decreased with increasing vermicompost level in the substrate. In general, the best growth and quality were related to plants grown in a mixture containing perlite, peat moss and vermicompost up to 10%.