Journal of Food Processing & Technology

Tomato industrial waste applications in sustainable soil pest management and biogas production

11^th Global Summit on Food & Beverages

September 22-24, 2016 Las Vegas, USA

Yigal Achmon

University of California, USA

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Food Process Technol

Abstract:

Food, agriculture, and energy are intricately connected. Sustainable agriculture and food processing requires recycling waste streams for beneficial processes such as soil treatment and energy production. Exploiting new energy sources that could reduce the use of fossil fuels is important for a future with sustainable energy. Renewable organic resources such as tomato pomace (TP) can provide low-cost sustainable energy. From the viewpoint of food vs. energy, organic waste can be a high-value energy source that does not impair food production. Additionally, food waste may be utilized for soil amendment to benefit sustainable agriculture. There is an ongoing effort to try to reduce the use of hazardous chemicals in soil pest management, and agricultural waste amendment is one possible solution to the problem. Our results indicate that the soil microorganisms converted TP into different metabolites and heat through cellular respiration. Biosolarization demonstrated 100% weed mortality for mustard and nightshade seeds over 5 days. In the AD study, we enriched the endogenous microbial community in cattle manure to produce biogas from TP in a 30% solids digestion with a 10% organic loading rate. Biosolarization was effective by having a synergistic effect on weeds and soil pathogens by combining solar heating with microbial activity. The exploitation of agri-food waste can lead to energy recovery, soil treatment, and waste management cost reduction.

Biography :

Email: yigal.achmon@uc.edu