Torres Olivencia, Noelia M.

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    Evaluación y caracterización química de aguas lixiviadas de envases en viveros de producción de cultivos ornamentals en tres zonas de Puerto Rico
    (2017) Torres Olivencia, Noelia M.; Librán Salas, María del C.; College of Agricultural Sciences; González Gill, Lizzette; López Méndez, Héctor O.; Department of Crops and Agro-Environmental Sciences; Amador Dumois, María
    In Puerto Rico, the production of ornamentals crops in containers are grown in nurseries (USDA-NASS, 2012). Nurseries are places where crops are grown and produced under controlled environmental conditions (Boix, 2015). This horticultural enterprise has a significant importance in the country's agriculture, providing income of up to $39,264,000 as reported by the Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture (2014). The objectives of this research are: evaluate the management of leached water from containers, chemically characterize these leachates and provide recommendations of alternative production systems for the proper management of these leachates. Three zones of greater agricultural activity were identified to conduct this research. The selected zones were: west side, center-west side and center side of Puerto Rico. In these zones, thirty nurseries were selected and evaluated. Leachates were collected from ten containers randomly selected from each nursery during three different periods. The results demonstrated that all of the selected nurseries were using a manual aerial irrigation system (with a hose). The collected leachates, were chemically analyzed to determine the concentrations of: total organic nitrogen, nitrate and total phosphorus. The method used for the analysis of total organic nitrogen and total phosphorus was the Kjeldahl method (Lachat, 2001; Lachat, 2003). The methodology for the determination of nitrate was by direct measure (Lachat, 2003). Results of the chemical characterization of leachates, shown that 18% of the samples had concentrations of total organic nitrogen greater than 10ppm. The highest value observed was 96.3ppm of total organic nitrogen. The results of total phosphorus shown from 87% of the samples analyzed, exceeded the 1ppm concentration permitted by EPA (US-EPA, 2009), being 334ppm of total phosphorus the highest value observed. Results of nitrate leachate analysis, demonstrated that 69% of samples exceeded 10ppm. This amount exceeds the concentration allowed by EPA in drinking water (US-EPA, 2009), being 7,087ppm of nitrate the highest value observed. These results demonstrate that it is imperative to adopt practices to control these leachates with high quantities of fertilizer which are deposited to the environment. Producers of ornamentals crops under nursery production systems should evaluate the irrigation systems used, the frequency of irrigation, and the quantities of fertilizers applied to reduce environmental impact of runoff water. According to the results of this research, alternate closed systems are the most efficient to reduce the environmental impact. These alternate closed systems, has been proved as systems of zero runoff which represent a significant reduction of environmental contaminants (Mattson, 2014; Green, 1989).