Ready, Set, Grow! Using ORCA Food Digester Fluid to Support Sprouting and Growth of Spinacia oleracea (spinach)

• Main Author: Black, Megan
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Digital Commons @ University of South Florida 2021
• Subjects: Orca
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/usf_ourconference/2021/abstracts/77

Food waste has many fates including being sent to landfills where it can potentially turn into methane, a potent greenhouse gas. The ORCA food digester is an alternative to landfills in which food waste is turned into an environmentally safe liquid and reducing methane production. Previous work at USF has suggested that the liquid produced from the ORCA food digester encourages the growth of grass. The aim of this study was to determine whether liquid taken from the ORCA food digester would support the germination and growth of Spinacia oleracea (spinach). There was a control group and three experimental groups with increasing concentrations of ORCA food digester liquid. The plants were watered with their specified ORCA concentration solution and growth was characterized by observations and height measurements. Data shows that the plants in the higher concentration of ORCA liquid groups are sprouting much later than the plants in the control group and the lower concentration of ORCA liquid group thus indicating that high concentrations of ORCA liquid do not support the germination of spinach. Future research is indicated to determine if ORCA food digester liquid could be beneficial to the germination and growth of other plant species.