ORIGINAL RESEARCH The effect of municipal solid waste compost, peat, perlite and vermicompost on tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum L.) growth and yield in a hydroponic system Maryam Haghighi 1 • Mohammad Reza Barzegar 1 • Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva 2 Received: 25 October 2015 / Accepted: 21 June 2016 / Published online: 14 July 2016 Ó The Author(s) 2016. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Purpose An experiment was conducted to assess the ability of municipal solid waste compost (MSWC), peat, perlite and vermicompost (VC) to improve the growth of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.), an important horti- cultural commodity, in hydroponic culture. Methods Organic matter, when used as a substrate, can affect tomato cultivar ‘Grandella’ plant growth. In this study, we studied the effect of MSWC, either composted by earthworms (VC), or in an uncomposted form, as well as conventional substrates peat and perlite, on tomato growth when incorporated into hydroponic culture. Growth and physiological attributes were assessed at the fruiting stage. Results Among several ratios of MSWC, peat, perlite and VC, VC with 25 % compost increased the number of red fruits in the harvest period significantly more than the control. The use of VC, peat and perlite increased root fresh and dry weight, root volume, mean photosynthesis, and the number of fruits at all physiological stages com- pared to the control. Conclusion Vermicompost can improve tomato growth physiology when used as one part of the substrate in hydroponic culture. Keywords Municipal solid waste compost  Organic substrates  Peat  Perlite  Vermicompost Introduction The use of municipal solid waste compost (MSWC), an ‘‘organic amendment’’, is one way of converting waste into agriculturally useful compost whose primary purpose is to fulfill the nitrogen (N) requirements of crops (Hargreaves et al. 2008). MSWC is particularly useful in soils that contain low levels of soil organic matter (SOM), or in nutrient-depleted soils since it can influence nutrient min- eralization and subsequent plant growth (Hargreaves et al. 2008). It achieves this by reducing the level of toxic heavy metals in soil (Yuksel 2015). Organic fertilizers such as MSWC can also restore nutrient deficiencies and SOM content (Francou et al. 2008), as was observed with faba bean (Vicia faba L.) (Abdelhamid et al. 2004) and maize (Zea mays L.) (Carbonell et al. 2011) cultures in which nutrients and SOM were depleted. MSWC increases soil pH, which is advantageous to plant growth (Mkhabela and Warman 2005; Alam and Chong 2006). The use of MSWC also increases microbial activity and soil respiration (Margesin et al. 2006) as a result of a dynamic change in soil microbial community structure (Saison et al. 2006) and the activity of soil enzymes used to transform nutrients (Crecchio et al. 2004), which increase microbial biomass associated with symbiotic root associations (Bouzaiane et al. 2014). Organic amendments can suppress diseases in the rhizosphere although compost feedstocks (i.e., the starting organic material) can alter plant growth (Rodda et al. 2006) and microbial communities in substrates con- taining those composts (Lores et al. 2006). MSWC applied at 40–120 kg/ha increased the electrical conductivity (EC) & Maryam Haghighi mhaghighi@cc.iut.ac.ir Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva jaimetex@yahoo.com 1 Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran 2 Miki-cho post office, Ikenobe 3011-2, P. O. Box 7, Kagawa-ken 761-0799, Japan 123 Int J Recycl Org Waste Agricult (2016) 5:231–242 DOI 10.1007/s40093-016-0133-7