Industrial sawdust waste: An alternative to soilless substrate for garlic (Allium sativum L.)

•Commercial market demands cheap, lightweight and renewable bioresource substrates.•Azadirachta indica (neem) sawdust may be used as a cheap substrate for growth and production of garlic.•The aim is to promote the development, innovation and sustainability of agro-bioresources substrate industry. In many parts of the world, sawdust is a common wood industrial waste that is either wasted or used as fuel. Sawdust has low weight, good drainage and is inexpensive. This study assesses the potential of wood sawdust to be used as a viable substrate for soilless garlic production. In two experiments, garlic (Allium sativum) was grown in plastic bags containing six different types of sawdust substrates made of Azadirachta indica (neem), Mangifera indica (mango), Morus alba (mulberry), Acacia nilotica (gum arabic), Eucalyptus albens (eucalyptus), Bombax ceiba (cotton tree) and in clay loam soil (control). We found that A. nilotica and M. alba sawdust significantly decreased the leaves number, plant height, leaf area, relative water content, bulb diameter, number of cloves bulb−1, shoot dry weight and bulb dry weight of garlic. Moreover, the use of these two substrates apparently increased the number of days to seed clove emergence and the chlorophyll content index of garlic. However, A. indica sawdust did not affect the number of days to seed clove emergence, number of leaves plant−1, plant height, leaf area, relative water content, bulb diameter, number of cloves bulb−1, shoot dry weight and bulb dry weight. Therefore, A. indica sawdust may have potential to be used as a cheap alternative substrate to garlic soilless cultivation.