Use of vinasses for compost production

The agricultural use of compost produced from solid urban wastes, and vinas ses originating from molasses fermentation processes, has been studied for a number of years. However, both of these types of waste present problems, The composition of compost derived from urban waste is often far from ideal for plant nutrition, and vinasses applied to fields can be easily washed a way. However, the addition of vinasses to solid urban wastes before the fermenta tion steps can both improve the compost formation process, and allow proble ms associated with the separate materials to be overcome. It also yields a quality product which can be used on a large scale, We here report on preli minary results of trials with strawberry crops to test the effects of compo st produced in this may, and show that the product has considerable potenti al.