Page 167 - Plant Canada 2024 Proceeding

PLANT CANADA 2024

[O128] TESTING ECOWOOL PELLET APPLICATION AS AN ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY
2
1
1
AMENDMENT IN GREENHOUSES. Liette Vasseur , Avalon Halgreen , Natasha Hearn , Reem
Mahamoud , and Vaughn Mangal . Department of Biological Sciences and Department of Chemistry,
2 1
2
2
Brock University,1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St Catharines, On L2S 3A1
Correspondence to: lvasseur@brocku.ca

Because of growing concerns about environmental degradation and health risks caused by chemical
contamination in soil and crops, farmers are interested in finding strategies to reduce the use of chemical
fertilizers and pesticides while improving the overall ecosystem health. This is the same for greenhouse
operators where there is a growing interest for new technologies and environmentally friendly
amendments. With the need to find strategies to avoid the use of agrochemicals while improving the
health of soils, testing of new products in controlled conditions is essential. Nurseries and greenhouses
can grow crops in soil, especially if they sell liv plants to the public. In this study, we tested the use of
Ecowool product (wool pellet) as a soil amendment with five different crops (marigold, green pepper,
yellow bean, spinach, and basil) to determine its capacity to improve soil health and fertility and therefore
crop performance. The experiment was carried out in the Brock’s greenhouse in two experimental runs
where plants were exposed to 1) 5%, 2) 10% and 3) 20% Ecowool, 4) synthetic commercial fertilizer, and
5) water only (control). Each experimental run had four replicates for each species and treatment and the
experiments last 55 days (one plant per pot). At the end of the experiment, fresh and dry shoot, and root
weights were recorded and soil and leachate water from the pots chemical contents were analyzed. The
results showed few significant differences among treatments for the five species biomass with a trend of
heavier plants in the 5% Ecowool and the lowest weight being in the 20% Ecowool. Chemical analyses
showed an increase in nitrogen, potassium, and organic carbon to soils with increase concentrations of
Ecowool but levels of salts at 20 % (wt/wt) Ecowool applications were toxic. Zinc levels in soil were also
higher than in control with water. Concentrations of nitrogen, potassium, zinc and cupper in marigold’s
shoot increased with the application of Ecowool compared to the fertilizer and water treatments. This was
not the case for the four other species. The study suggests that Ecowool at low concentrations may be an
effective alternative as an amendment to crops but, applications should be limited to avoid increasing
salts and some heavy metals in soil and plants over time.

[O129a] DESIGNING AND IMPLEMENTING A USER-FRIENDLY PLANT COMMUNITY SURVEY
PROTOCOL TO HELP CONSERVATION ORGANIZATIONS SELECT REINTRODUCTION SITES FOR
AN ENDANGERED PRAIRIE BUTTERFLY IN MANITOBA. Katherine Dearborn and Richard
1
1,2 1
Westwood . Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences, University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage
Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R3B 2E9; AND Department of Biology, University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Ave.,
2
Winnipeg, MB, R3B 2E9
Correspondence to: k.dearborn@uwinnipeg.ca

Over 99% of the original extent of tall-grass prairie habitat in Manitoba has been eliminated by agricultural
development. As a result, approximately one third of all endangered species in Canada are prairie
species. One such species is the Poweshiek skipperling butterfly. Poweshiek populations in Canada have
been in decline for several decades, and are currently confined to a handful of isolated patches of tall-
grass prairie habitat that are owned and managed by various Manitoba-based conservation
organizations. To prevent extirpation, these organizations have been harvesting eggs from female
skipperlings in the summer, raising the caterpillars at the Assiniboine Park Zoo over the winter to reduce
overwinter mortality, and then returning mature pupae to the same sites they collected eggs from in the
spring. Their efforts seem to have increased local abundances of Poweshiek skipperling over the past few
years, but given the high degree of isolation among remaining populations, the species is unlikely to
recover on its own without simultaneous reintroductions into formerly-occupied habitat.

Selecting reintroduction sites and ensuring they contain enough suitable habitat to support a reintroduced
population can be very challenging. Plant community composition is often an important indicator of habitat
suitability, particularly for Lepidopterans (butterflies and moths). However, plant species identification can
be a barrier for conservation practitioners tasked with planning reintroductions. We aimed to design a
field-based vegetation survey protocol that would provide the necessary data to inform the selection of
reintroduction sites for Poweshiek skipperling, while remaining broadly accessible to staff with minimal
training in botany. We used our protocol to collect plant community data from numerous conservation-

166