Germination of Seeds Grown on Medium from Olive Mill Liquid Waste, Olive Mill Pomace, and Stone Sludge Waste

Abstract

Germination of Barley and Tomato seeds was investigated on a medium formulated from industrial waste by-product. Solid Olive Mill Pomace (SOM) was mixed with Stone Sludge waste (SSW) and untreated Liquid Olive Mill Liquid waste (OML), (aka: olive mill waste water =OMLW) in different mixing ratios. The seeds were sown in pots containing different mixture of the three components of waste by-product. Germination resulted in certain pots and inhibitions occurred in other pots. It appears that as the percentage of stone sludge was increased in the mixed formulation, a better growth in the pots was observed. This is probably due to the fact that the OML is acidic in nature, and the SSW is basic in nature. The purpose of experiment was to develop sustainable method of new agriculture practices and to reduce the negative impact of serious pollutants produced from olive mill industry and stone factories in Palestine. to protect  the biophysical environment and quality capacity building in Palestine Three polluting materials including olive mill waste water (OMWW), lime stone sludge and solid waste of olive mill factories (pomace or Jeft) were mixed in specific ratio to produce artificial soil.

Keywords: olive mill waste, stone sludge, germination, agriculture, pomace, recycling