Agro-industrial waste presents an alternative to inorganic fertilizer. It is possible to use tobacco waste as a soil amendment due to its high organic matter and low toxic element content. Tobacco waste compost (TWC) and farmyard manure (FYM) were applied to Typic Xerofluvent soil at various ratios, and butter-head lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. var. Capitata L.) was grown. | Turk J Agric For 32 (2008) 91-99 © TÜB‹TAK Organic Amendment Based on Tobacco Waste Compost and Farmyard Manure: Influence on Soil Biological Properties and Butter-Head Lettuce Yield Nur OKUR*, Hüseyin Hüsnü KAYIKÇIO⁄LU, Bülent OKUR, Sezai DEL‹BACAK Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Ege University, Bornova, ‹zmir - TURKEY Received: Abstract: Agro-industrial waste presents an alternative to inorganic fertilizer. It is possible to use tobacco waste as a soil amendment due to its high organic matter and low toxic element content. Tobacco waste compost (TWC) and farmyard manure (FYM) were applied to Typic Xerofluvent soil at various ratios, and butter-head lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. var. Capitata L.) was grown. The effects on soil organic C and total N content, soil microbial biomass, soil respiration, activity of 4 enzymes (dehydrogenase, urease, alkaline -1 phosphatase, and β-glucosidase), and lettuce yield were determined. Organic materials were applied at the rate of 50 t ha . Significantly (P 15% lignin. Adediran et al. (2003), however, showed that tobacco waste depressed microbial biomass when added to soil and speculated that the nicotine present in the waste could have caused this effect. Nicotine is an insecticide and has been reported to have toxic effects on plants and animals (Baldwin and Callahan, 1993). Direct use of tobacco waste could create an unfavorable soil environment; however, composting tobacco waste could accelerate the breakdown of nicotine and result in the production of a less toxic and more useful organic amendment (Adediran et al., 2004). In the present study tobacco waste compost (TWC) combined with farmyard manure (FYM) at different ratios was applied to soil and the effects of these amendments on soil microbial activities and butter-head lettuce yield were studied. Material and Methods Experimental design The experiment was conducted at the Research Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ege .
