fungal rhizosphere of tuff+biochar treated soil of Lactuca sativa in greenhouse pots replicate 1
The experiment was set up in a greenhouse. The setting included three tables (18 m length and 1 m width each), which regarded as replicates. On each table, we located six plastic containers (6.0 m length, 0.3 m width, and 0.2 m depth each) in two rows (with three containers per row). In each table, the southern row was designated for planting of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L., Noga hybrid, HaZera, at 3 weeks age), while the northern row was designated for planting of cherry tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. var. cerasiforme, Sipri hybrid, Rijk Zwan, at 4 weeks age). Each container was filled with one type of substrate among the following three types. The first type of substrate was a commercial tuff media (tephra, 08 mm size range), which encompasses a standard potting material, and regarded as a control treatment (entitled as TF). The second type of substrate encompassed of domestic sewage sludge that went under composting, and then mixed with garden trimming, at 1:1 (V/V) ratio. This mix was then gone under a pyrolysis process at 500 C for one h (entitled as BR), using a custom-made commercial-sized pyrolyzer. The third type of substrate encompassed a 50/50 (V/V) mix of two components: (1) same material as for the second type of substrate, and (2) non-pyrolyzed, composted sewage sludge (entitled as CC). For each of the two crops, each container was filled with the substrate according to a fully randomized design. Planting of the two crops seedlings was conducted. In each table, each of the southern containers was planted with 30 lettuce seedlings, while each of the northern containers was planted with 15 cherry tomato seedlings. For each crop, irrigation was provided through automated dripping system, whereas the irrigation rate was set according to the crop phenology and daily evapotranspiration. Water was provided by the regular irrigation system that exists in the region, consisting of water at pH 8.2 and electrical conductivity (EC) of 1.1 dS m-1.