Rabbit Manure Compost for Seedling Nursery Blocks: Suitability and Optimization of the Manufacturing Production Process

Rangling Li, Hongying Wang, Enze Duan, Jiayu Fan and Liangju Wang ()
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Rangling Li: College of Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
Hongying Wang: College of Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
Enze Duan: College of Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
Jiayu Fan: College of Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
Liangju Wang: College of Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 12, 1-17

Abstract: Using rabbit manure to prepare growing media is an effective method to solve environmental pollution and realize resource utilization. The solution to rabbit manure management is the composting process which could produce compost suitable for seedling nursery blocks, which could improve transplanting efficiency and seedlings’ survival rate. Seedling nursery blocks were obtained by mixing rabbit manure compost, vermiculite, rice straw, and peat. The effect of cold pressing parameters, including moisture content (25–45%), binder content (1–5%), molding compression ratio (2.5–4.5:1), and strain maintenance time (0–120 s), were investigated on blocks quality (i.e., ventilatory porosity, relaxation density, compressive resistance, and specific energy consumption) through a general rotation combined experiment. These results showed there were significant interaction effects between molding compression ratio and moisture content, moisture and binder content, binder content and strain maintenance time, and molding compression ratio and binder content on block quality. The optimal parameters for manufacturing blocks were that the molding compression ratio, moisture content, binder content, and strain maintenance time were 4:1, 33.5%, 3.1%, and 60 s, and the relaxation density, ventilation porosity, and specific energy consumption were 363.31 kg/m 3 , 18.72%, and 0.44 J/g, which could achieve emergence performance.

Keywords: waste management; sustainability; growing media; compression molding; peat substitute (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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