Characterisation of Soilless Substrates Blended from Coco Peat and Burned Rice Husk via Particle Size Distribution Analysis
Keywords:
Burn rice husk, coco peat, particle size, sieve analysis, soillessAbstract
Soilless media is widely employed in modern agriculture to facilitate efficient water management, enhance nutrient uptake, and mitigate soil-borne diseases. When different soilless media are blended in varying compositions, their physical and hydrological properties change, directly impacting crop yield and growth performance. Understanding the combination effect of coco peat (CP) and burn rice husk (BRH) concerning particle size distribution suitability for the potting medium is essential. This study aims to evaluate the particle size distribution of blended soilless substrates composed of CP and BRH at various compositions. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was deployed to assess significant differences between particle sizes among the treatments. Particle distribution curves were further analysed for particle diameter at selected cumulative mass distribution, median, standard deviation, mass relative span, kurtosis and skewness. Results indicated that most samples consist of fines and medium particle size, positive fine skewed, and signified by mesokurtic and leptokurtic. The combination of CP and RBH at different ratios has changed the coarse (> 2.3 mm), medium (2.3 to 0.6 mm) and fine (< 0.6 mm) particle size composition. This study demonstrated that the combination of CP and BRH improved particle distribution size by increasing the medium and fine-size particles. This finding provides valuable information on physical changes in particle size due to the blend of CP and BRH for potting soilless media. Understanding soilless media characteristics would guide farmers in managing better irrigation practices for precision irrigation or IoT smart farming for optimum agricultural production.
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