Co-composting of olive pomace and fish wastes and use in soil improvement

The re-use of wastes produced from food industry in agriculture is considered to be one of the best methods both economically and environmentally. In Turkey, a significant amount of fish waste released in fish processing factories. Additionally olive oil production is also important in the region and solid waste that is remaining after olive oil production is called olive pomace (pirina). In this study, changes in some physical and chemical properties of sandy loam soil after applications of compost (FOC) with three different doses (3 %, 6 %, 9 %) have been determined. For this purpose, the compost added soil was kept in incubator for 2.5 months. At the end of the incubation period, the effects of compost on soil pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total nitrogen (TN), total carbon (TC) and aggregate stability (AS) were investigated. It was found that compost addition significantly changed measured soil parameters and doses were also statistically significant (p < 0.05). It was determined that measured soil parameter values except pH and C / N ratio increased with increasing compost doses. pH was decreased by 5.9 % and C/N was decreased by 45 % compared to control with the highest compost application rate. It was found that EC was 14 times higher, AS was 68 % higher, TN was 207 % higher and TC was 68 % higher in 9 % FOC applied soils than those of control soil