Effects of animal manures on enzymes activities and physico-chemical properties of a degraded humid ultisol

Application of animal manures for soil amendment plays a major role in the improvement of soil properties and enzymatic activities of a degraded Ultisol. This study assessed the effects of poultry manure (PM) and swine manure (SM) on the activities of catalase and urease enzymes and some soil properties. The PM and SM were applied at the rate of 30 t ha–1 each on experimental plots arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. Soil samples were collected at day 0, 14, 28, 42, 56, 70 and 84 from 0-15 and 15-30 cm depths and analyzed for catalase and urease enzymes and some soil properties using standard procedures. The results showed increase in soil pH (in H2O) from 4.0 to 5.4 following manure application. At 0-15 cm soil depth, PM and SM recorded 28.1 and 28.8% increases in soil pH (in H2O), respectively. Soil organic carbon was highest (2.6 g kg–1) at 0-15 cm depth for soil amended with SM while the lowest value of 1.1 g kg–1was obtained at 15-30 cm depth for soil unamended with SM. In PM-amended soil, catalase activities ranged from 1.32 to 6.77 mg g–1 while its activities in SM-treated soil significantly (p < 0.05) varied between 1.55 and 8.11 mg g–1. Urease showed ranges of 0.72-3.90 mg g–1 and 0.96-4.71 mg g–1 in PM-amended and SM-treated soils, respectively. The results uphold that animal manures improve soil properties and are enzymatically controlled.

Repeated Manure Application for Eleven Years Stimulates Enzymatic Activities and Improves Soil Attributes in a Typic Hapludalf

Animal manure may be a valuable resource for the development of agricultural sustainability. We proposed to verify the feasibility of applications of three types of animal manures to improve soil attributes and to sustain crop yields under intensive cropping and no-tillage systems. The field experiment was established in 2004 on Typic Hapludalf soil with pig slurry (PS), cattle slurry (CS), pig deep-litter (PL), mineral fertilizer (MF) and a non-fertilized treatment. From 2004 to 2015, were grown black oat, maize, forage turnip, black beans, and wheat. Soil samples were taken after winter 2014 and summer 2015, and submitted to chemical, physical, microbiological and biochemical analyses. Animal manures increased soil pH, but MF caused acidification of soil. The PL and CS applications reduced soil density, and increased total pore volume and hydraulic conductivity. Animal manures increased soil P fractions, total organic carbon, total nitrogen, stimulated soil respiration, and had higher activities of glucosidase and acid phosphatase. Wheat had its biggest dry matter and grain yields with MF, but maize grain yields with CS were higher than MF. All indicators pointed that application of animal manure converges to an interesting strategy to recycle nutrients at farmyard level and to contribute to global sustainability.

Soil Chemical Properties and Yield Response of Okra (Abelmoschus Esculentus L) to Different Organic Fertilizer Sources

The study investigated the effects of animal manures (cow manure, CoM; chicken droppings, CkD; and pig manure, PiM) applied at 15 t ha-1 equivalent rate on the soil and growth performance of okra grown in a degraded ultisol. The treatments (CoM; CoM; PiM and Control unamended) were laid out in a completely randomized design and replicated three times. Animal manure application had significant effects on soil properties. Soilorganic matter increased by over 9% in the amended treatment relative to the control treatment. Except for N, increases in P (circa 14-70%)and K (circa 15-46%) nutrients were higher for CkD treatment than in other treatments. Generally, the amended treatments maintained a significantly higher (p ≤0.05) plant leave number, stem girth, plant height, okra pod length and yields when compared with the Control treatment. The results indicated that application of animal manure enhanced okra growth performance. The findings suggest that animal manure application can potentially increase okra yield when grown in a degraded soil. It is recommended that farmers use ample (15 t ha-1) ) quantity of animal manures to increase their crop yields, which invariably will enhance their income. Keywords: Soil fertility, organic fertilizers okra growth, okra yield response, farmers okra yeild.

Publisher Correction: Characterization and carbon mineralization of biochars produced from different animal manures and plant residues

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.