Research on the Possibilities of Using Paper Mill Sewage Sludge as an Alternative Seedling Growth Media to Peat

This research was conducted in order for sewage sludge, which complies with the criteria stated in the last 2010 Sludge Regulation on Soil Pollution and its Control, to be used as a seedling growth media. In this research, peat and soil were used as controls, and peat + sewage sludge + perlite and soil + sewage sludge + perlite were mixed at different rates and 8 growing media were prepared for each. Some quality specifications of the tomato seedlings were investigated by determining their nutrient contents in the growth media. According to the research results, the media mixed with peat was found statistically different at the level of p<0.05 in the seedling quality characteristics except for the cotyledon width, and the media mixed with soil was found statistically different at the level of p<0.05 in all the determined seedling quality characteristics. The growth media prepared by mixing peat and sewage sludge proportionately had a positive effect on seedling formation. The O5 media, which contained 40% peat + 50% sewage sludge + 10% perlite, had the best values of seedling length, seedling root length, shoot fresh weight, and root fresh weight. In the soil-controlled media, the M5 media, which contained 40% soil + 50% sewage sludge + 10% perlite, had the best values of seedling root length and root fresh weight.