Effects of industrial orange wastes on soil characteristics and on growth and production of durum wheat

Abstract - With the aim of evaluating the possibility of recycling industrial orange wastes as soil conditioners, a research was carried out to study the effects of different doses of this orange wastes on soil parameters, some growth parameters and production of durum wheat in a Mediterranean environment where the soils are generally poor in organic matter. Three doses were used in the first year; in the second year the same doses and the residual effects of the previous treatments were studied. Soil characteristics, crop growth and yield were determined. Conditioning positively influenced some parameters of the soil. The organic matter had only partly modified its own structure due to the decomposition process during the year after the conditioning. The processes of degradation of the organic matter were predominant as compared with the humification ones under the pedologic and climatic conditions of the trials (sandy soil and dry hot climate). Conditioning carried out with doses higher than the minimum had a depressive effect on the crop productivity due to the excessive vegetation vigour.