scholarly journals Effects of Selected Soil Amendments and Mulch Type on Soil Properties and Productivity in Organic Vegetable Production

Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 795
Author(s):  
Robert P. Larkin
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Fish Meal ◽  
Soil Amendments ◽  
Biological Properties ◽  
Dairy Manure ◽  
Growth And Yield ◽  
Nutrient Concentrations ◽  
Vegetable Production ◽  
Organic Vegetable Production

The potential benefits of different types of soil amendments and mulch ground covers on soil chemical and biological properties, crop development and yield, and disease and pest issues in organic vegetable production, as represented by legume (green snap bean), cucurbit (green zucchini squash), and brassicaceous (turnip) vegetable crops, were evaluated in a two-year field trial in Maine, USA. Soil amendments evaluated (following an initial fertilizer base) included a commercial organic fertilizer alone, composted dairy manure, compost plus fish meal, and compost plus Wollastonite, a natural source of silicon (Si). A paper mulch was also compared with a woven polypropylene fabric mulch for their performance and effects as weed barriers within these systems. Mulch type significantly affected soil properties, with the fabric mulch associated with increases in soil moisture, organic matter, and other soil chemical and biological properties relative to the paper mulch. The fabric mulch also resulted in earlier emergence and earlier harvests for bean and zucchini. Soil amendments affected soil properties and crop growth and yield of bean and zucchini, with compost amendments increasing soil pH, organic matter, and several nutrient concentrations, as well as crop emergence and yield relative to a fertilizer-only treatment. Compost treatment also reduced the infestation and damage caused by mites on beans in 2018. Addition of fish meal increased most nutrient element concentrations and microbial respiration, and Si amendment increased emergence of beans, and reduced powdery mildew on squash and late season browning of beans. These results help define specific management practices to improve organic vegetable production and provide useful information and options for growers.

scholarly journals Effect of Different Organic Wastes on Soil Propertie s and Plant Growth and Yield: a Review

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 224-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Z. Hossain ◽  
P. von Fragstein ◽  
P. von Niemsdorff ◽  
J. Heß
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Plant Growth ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Biological Properties ◽  
Exchange Capacity ◽  
Organic Wastes ◽  
Plant Nutrients ◽  
Growth And Yield ◽  
Stimulate Plant Growth

Abstract The use of organic wastes in agriculture plays a great role in recycling essential plant nutrients, sustaining soil security as well as protecting the environment from unwanted hazards. This review article deals with the effect of different kinds of organic wastes on soil properties and plant growth and yield. Municipal solid waste is mainly used as a source of nitrogen and organic matter, improving soil properties and microbial activity that are closely related to soil fertility. Biowaste and food waste increase pH, nitrogen content, cation exchange capacity, water holding capacity, and microbial biomass in soil. Sewage sludge contains various amounts of organic matter and huge amounts of plant nutrients. Manure is a common waste which improves soil properties by adding nutrients and increases microbial and enzyme activity in soil. It also reduces toxicity of some heavy metals. These organic wastes have a great positive impact on soil physical, chemical, and biological properties as well as stimulate plant growth and thus increase the yield of crops.

scholarly journals Different Compost Materials Used as Source of Organic Matter in Production of Chili Pepper

Akta Agrosia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-12
Author(s):  
Roy S.O. Sumbayak ◽  
Merakati Handajaningsih ◽  
Hartal Hartal ◽  
Marwanto Marwanto
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Plant Height ◽  
Growth Yield ◽  
Fruit Weight ◽  
Chili Pepper ◽  
Plant Production ◽  
Growth And Yield ◽  
Cow Dung ◽  
Vegetable Production ◽  
Organic Growth

Compost has been commonly used as the primary organic matter in organic plant production, especially in vegetable production.  Different sources of compost materials give different medium structures and chemical characteristics. The objectives of this research were: 1) to evaluate the response of growth and yield of chili pepper to a rate of compost and source of animal waste which were used as compost; 2) to determine the optimum rate of fertilizer for the highest growth and yield of chili pepper. The research was carried out from November 2015 until March 2016. Compost material treatments consisted of cow dung, empty palm oil bunches, and mixed of vegetable residue and weeds. The compost rate treatments consisted of 0 ton ha-1, 10 ton ha-1, 20 ton ha-1, and 30 ton ha-1. No interaction between the two treatments was found to influence plant growth and yield variables.   The type of compost materials affected plant height of 5, 6, and7 weeks after transplanting.  Cow dung as a source of compost showed the best effect in increasing chili plant height.  Plant height, the number of plant dichotomous, and plant canopy responded linearly  to the increase of the compost rate. The usage of compost at 20 ton ha-1 and 30 ha-1 resulted in higher fruit length, the number of fruit, and fruit weight per plant.   Keywords: chili pepper, compost, organic, growth, yield 

Effects of soil properties on variation in growth, grain yield and nutrient concentration of wheat and barley

2006 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 93 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. K. McDonald
Keyword(s):  
Grain Yield ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Nutrient Concentration ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Growth And Yield ◽  
Dry Matter Production ◽  
Nutrient Concentrations ◽  
Plant Nutrient ◽  
Matter Production

High spatial and temporal variability is an inherent feature of dryland cereal crops over much of the southern cereal zone. The potential limitations to crop growth and yield of the chemical properties of the subsoils in the region have been long recognised, but there is still an incomplete understanding of the relative importance of different traits and how they interact to affect grain yield. Measurements were taken in a paddock at the Minnipa Agriculture Centre, Upper Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, to describe the effects of properties in the topsoil and subsoil on plant dry matter production, grain yield and plant nutrient concentrations in two consecutive years. Wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Worrakatta) was grown in the first year and barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Barque) in the second. All soil properties except pH showed a high degree of spatial variability. Variability in plant nutrient concentration, plant growth and grain yield was also high, but less than that of most of the soil properties. Variation in grain yield was more closely related to variation in dry matter at maturity and in harvest index than to dry matter production at tillering and anthesis. Soil properties had a stronger relationship with dry matter production and grain yield in 1999, the drier of the two years. Colwell phosphorus concentration in the topsoil (0–0.15 m) was positively correlated with dry matter production at tillering but was not related to dry matter production at anthesis or with grain yield. Subsoil pH, extractable boron concentration and electrical conductivity (EC) were closely related. The importance of EC and soil extractable boron to grain yield variation increased with depth, but EC had a greater influence than the other soil properties. In a year with above-average rainfall, very little of the variation in yield could be described by any of the measured soil variables. The results suggest that variation in EC was more important to describing variation in yield than variation in pH, extractable boron or other chemical properties.

scholarly journals Survey of Compost Use by South Florida Vegetable Growers

HortScience ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 795A-795
Author(s):  
Monica Ozores-Hampton*
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Soil Quality ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Anaerobic Bacteria ◽  
Biological Properties ◽  
South Florida ◽  
Growth And Yield ◽  
Vegetable Production ◽  
Vegetable Crops ◽  
Total Species Richness

The success of long-term vegetable production and maintenance of environmental quality is dependent on soil quality. Indicators of soil quality include cation exchange capacity (CEC), organic matter (OM), carbon (C), pH, and the number and community structure of soil organisms. The use of appropriate compost has been shown to improve soil quality and enhance the response to fertilizer, therefore improving growth and yield of vegetable crops. The objective of this study was to evaluate changes in the chemical and biological properties of soil in response to compost use in conventional vegetables production systems. A survey was conducted on 5 farms (three in Immokalee, and one each in Delray Beach, and Clewiston) growing tomato, pepper, and specialty vegetables. Most of the farms were applying composted yard trimming waste alone or in combination with biosolids or horse manure at application rates of between 7 to 112 Mg·ha-1 once a year. Soil samples were taken from composted and non-composted areas in each farm during Feb. and Mar. 2002. Soil pH, OM, C, K, Ca, Mg, Cu, Fe, MN and Zn were higher in the composted areas compared with the non-composted areas for each farm. CEC values in composted areas were double those in non-composted areas. Most importantly, application of compost enhanced the overall soil microbial activity as determined by total microorganism number, SRD (species richness diversity), and TSRD (total species richness diversity) of six functional groups including heterotrophic aerobic bacteria, anaerobic bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, pseudomonads, and nitrogen-fixing bacteria, in all the participating farms. The greatest soil quality improvement was seen in soils receiving the highest rates of compost for the longest time.

Compost amendments in agricultural ecosystems: confirmatory path analysis to clarify the effects on soil chemical and biological properties

2014 ◽  
Vol 153 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. BELLINO ◽  
D. BALDANTONI ◽  
F. DE NICOLA ◽  
P. IOVIENO ◽  
M. ZACCARDELLI ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Contamination ◽  
Path Analysis ◽  
Microbial Activity ◽  
Biological Properties ◽  
Directed Acyclic Graphs ◽  
Nutrient Concentrations ◽  
Causal Processes ◽  
Compost Amendment ◽  
Compost Amendments

SUMMARYCompost use is increasingly proposed as a sustainable strategy to restore the fertility of degraded agricultural soils and to reduce landfill disposal or incineration of organic wastes. The effects of compost application on many soil physico-chemical and biological properties, as well as on soil contamination, have been investigated widely, but a model for the ecological interactions among them has never been developed. The aim of the present paper was to provide an integrated view of the causal processes induced by repeated compost amendments on agricultural soil properties. For this purpose, a confirmatory path analysis was performed to enable inferences to be drawn about the causal processes involving compost amendment, soil organic matter content, nutrient concentrations, microbial activity and soil contamination. The path analysis was performed on a dataset derived from a 3-year field trial carried out by the current authors in a Mediterranean intensive agricultural system, where 0, 15, 30 or 45 t/ha of certified compost from municipal solid wastes were annually applied. A script (‘cpa’) was developed using the R programming language and used to test 13 hypothetical models, expressed as directed acyclic graphs, against the observed data. Within the above-mentioned dataset, potassium and zinc available concentrations, microbial respiration and total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations were selected as indicative of soil nutrient availability, microbial activity and organic contamination. The applied approach highlights that compost amendment directly influences all the other variables considered in the study and is the main determinant of the observed trends. Other important relationships are those among organic matter, nutrient availabilities, respiration and PAHs, as well as their temporal dynamics.

scholarly journals Soil properties and not inputs control carbon : nitrogen : phosphorus ratios in cropped soils in the long term

SOIL ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Frossard ◽  
Nina Buchmann ◽  
Else K. Bünemann ◽  
Delwende I. Kiba ◽  
François Lompo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Organic Matter ◽  
Microbial Biomass ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Nutrient Concentrations ◽  
Nutrient Ratios ◽  
Plant Residues ◽  
Wagga Wagga ◽  
Positive Correlation

Abstract. Stoichiometric approaches have been applied to understand the relationship between soil organic matter dynamics and biological nutrient transformations. However, very few studies have explicitly considered the effects of agricultural management practices on the soil C : N : P ratio. The aim of this study was to assess how different input types and rates would affect the C : N : P molar ratios of bulk soil, organic matter and microbial biomass in cropped soils in the long term. Thus, we analysed the C, N, and P inputs and budgets as well as soil properties in three long-term experiments established on different soil types: the Saria soil fertility trial (Burkina Faso), the Wagga Wagga rotation/stubble management/soil preparation trial (Australia), and the DOK (bio-Dynamic, bio-Organic, and “Konventionell”) cropping system trial (Switzerland). In each of these trials, there was a large range of C, N, and P inputs which had a strong impact on element concentrations in soils. However, although C : N : P ratios of the inputs were highly variable, they had only weak effects on soil C : N : P ratios. At Saria, a positive correlation was found between the N : P ratio of inputs and microbial biomass, while no relation was observed between the nutrient ratios of inputs and soil organic matter. At Wagga Wagga, the C : P ratio of inputs was significantly correlated to total soil C : P, N : P, and C : N ratios, but had no impact on the elemental composition of microbial biomass. In the DOK trial, a positive correlation was found between the C budget and the C to organic P ratio in soils, while the nutrient ratios of inputs were not related to those in the microbial biomass. We argue that these responses are due to differences in soil properties among sites. At Saria, the soil is dominated by quartz and some kaolinite, has a coarse texture, a fragile structure, and a low nutrient content. Thus, microorganisms feed on inputs (plant residues, manure). In contrast, the soil at Wagga Wagga contains illite and haematite, is richer in clay and nutrients, and has a stable structure. Thus, organic matter is protected from mineralization and can therefore accumulate, allowing microorganisms to feed on soil nutrients and to keep a constant C : N : P ratio. The DOK soil represents an intermediate situation, with high nutrient concentrations, but a rather fragile soil structure, where organic matter does not accumulate. We conclude that the study of C, N, and P ratios is important to understand the functioning of cropped soils in the long term, but that it must be coupled with a precise assessment of element inputs and budgets in the system and a good understanding of the ability of soils to stabilize C, N, and P compounds.

scholarly journals Obtaining more benefits from crop residues as soil amendments by application as chemically heterogeneous mixtures

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marijke Struijk ◽  
Andrew P. Whitmore ◽  
Simon R. Mortimer ◽  
Tom Sizmur
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Nutrient Availability ◽  
Soil Structure ◽  
Crop Residues ◽  
Soil Amendments ◽  
Aggregate Stability ◽  
Available N ◽  
Nitrogen Levels

Abstract. Crop residues are valuable soil amendments in terms of the carbon and other nutrients they contain, but incorporation of residues does not always translate into increases in nutrient availability, soil organic matter (SOM), soil structure, and overall soil fertility. Studies have demonstrated accelerated decomposition rates of chemically heterogeneous litter mixtures, compared to the decomposition of individual litters, in forest and grassland systems. Mixing high C : N ratio with low C : N ratio amendments may result in greater carbon use efficiency and non-additive benefits in soil properties (i.e. mixture ≠ sum of the parts). We hypothesised that non-additive benefits would accrue from mixtures of low-quality (straw or woodchips) and high-quality (vegetable-waste compost) residues applied before lettuce planting in a full-factorial field experiment. Properties indicative of soil structure and nutrient cycling were used to assess benefits from residue mixtures, including soil respiration, aggregate stability, bulk density, SOM, available and potentially mineralisable N, available P, K and Mg, and crop yield. Soil organic matter and mineral nitrogen levels were significantly and non-additively greater in the straw-compost mixture compared to individual residues, which mitigated the N immobilisation occurring with straw-only applications. Addition of compost significantly increased soil available N, K and Mg levels. Together, these observations suggest that greater nutrient availability improved the ability of decomposer organisms to degrade straw in the straw-compost mixture. We demonstrate that mixtures of crop residues can influence soil properties non-additively. Thus, greater benefits may be achieved by removing, mixing, and re-applying crop residues, than by simply returning them to the soils in situ.

scholarly journals Obtaining more benefits from crop residues as soil amendments by application as chemically heterogeneous mixtures

SOIL ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 467-481
Author(s):  
Marijke Struijk ◽  
Andrew P. Whitmore ◽  
Simon R. Mortimer ◽  
Tom Sizmur
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Nutrient Availability ◽  
Soil Structure ◽  
Crop Residues ◽  
Soil Amendments ◽  
C:N Ratio ◽  
Mineral N ◽  
Available N

Abstract. Crop residues are valuable soil amendments in terms of the carbon and other nutrients they contain, but the incorporation of residues does not always translate into increases in nutrient availability, soil organic matter (SOM), soil structure, and overall soil fertility. Studies have demonstrated accelerated decomposition rates of chemically heterogeneous litter mixtures, compared to the decomposition of individual litters, in forest and grassland systems. Mixing high C:N ratio with low C:N ratio amendments may result in greater carbon use efficiency (CUE) and nonadditive benefits in soil properties. We hypothesised that nonadditive benefits would accrue from mixtures of low-quality (straw or woodchips) and high-quality (vegetable waste compost) residues applied before lettuce planting in a full factorial field experiment. Properties indicative of soil structure and nutrient cycling were used to assess the benefits from residue mixtures, including soil respiration, aggregate stability, bulk density, SOM, available N, potentially mineralisable N, available P, K, and Mg, and crop yield. Soil organic matter and mineral N levels were significantly and nonadditively greater in the straw–compost mixture compared to individual residues, which mitigated the N immobilisation occurring with straw-only applications. The addition of compost significantly increased available N, K, and Mg levels. Together, these observations suggest that greater nutrient availability improved the ability of decomposer organisms to degrade straw in the straw–compost mixture. We demonstrate that mixtures of crop residues can influence soil properties nonadditively. Thus, greater benefits may be achieved by removing, mixing, and reapplying crop residues than by simply returning them to the soils in situ.

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