The Effect of Peanut Shells as a Substitute for Peat in Potting Media on Growth and Nutrition of Begonia rex

Due to the environmental problems caused by the accumulation of significant amounts of waste from peanut cultivation, it seems necessary to provide a solution for the reuse of this organic waste. Therefore, this experiment was conducted to investigate the possibility of using compost of peanut shells in potting Begonia rex. This research was based on randomized complete block design with five treatments and four pots per treatment and three replications. The plants were grown in a peat consisting perlite (2:1 v/v) and composts (25, 50, 75 and 100 v/v %) instead of peat in peat (P): perlite (Pe) (2:1 v/v) growth medium. The control consisted of P: Pe alone without peanut shells composts. The results showed that application of peanut shells compost improved the growth factors of Begonia. Based on this, replacement of 25% of peanut shells compost in most growth factors such as plant height (20.21 cm, respectively), number of leaves (13.13%), fresh weight of a leaf (48.88 g), dry weight of a leaf (2.01 g, respectively) and root fresh weight (2.37 g, respectively) had a better effect on plant growth. Increasing levels of peanut shells compost by 100% significantly reduced plant growth compared to control. It seems that in treating 100% of peanut shells compost, salinity increase (1.48%) was effective in reducing plant growth.