Organic fertilizer effects on pea yield, nutrient uptake, microbial root colonization and soil microbial biomass indices in organic farming systems
Introduction
In organic farming systems, N2 fixation of legumes, such as peas (Pisum sativum L.) is the main source of N input (Berry et al., 2002). In these systems, peas are usually grown in rotation or intercropped with cereal crops, particularly with summer barley (Hordeum vulgare L.; Jensen, 1996), summer wheat (Triticum aestivum L.; Ghaley et al., 2005), and oats (Avena sativa L.; Neumann et al., 2007). Intercropping of peas with cereals is known to increase yields of an associated (Giller et al., 1991, Jensen, 1996) or a following cereal crop (Chalk et al., 1993). Intercropping is also known to decrease weed pressure (Hauggaard-Nielsen et al., 2001, Hauggaard-Nielsen et al., 2008). Organic fertilizers provide the majority of essential plant nutrients, improving actual crop productivity but also leaving beneficial residual effects on succeeding crops (Ghosh et al., 2004). However, application of C-rich organic fertilizers such as horse manure or yard-waste compost, containing large amounts of bedding straw and woody debris with a wide C/N ratio, may cause temporary N-immobilization (Mahimairaja et al., 1994, Thomsen and Kjellerup, 1997). This will restrict crop productivity, particularly of non-legumes dependent on mineralization of soil organic N (Ramesh et al., 2009, Doltra et al., 2011).
Incorporation of organic fertilizers into soil causes a large and rapid increase in the soil microbial biomass (Ghoshal and Singh, 1995, Heinze et al., 2010), which forms only a small fraction of soil organic matter. However the soil microbial biomass plays an important role in nutrient cycling and plant nutrition, due to its fast turnover (Jenkinson and Ladd, 1981). For this reason, some studies have found a close relationship between the soil microbial biomass and crop yields under greenhouse conditions (Chen et al., 2000) as well as under field conditions (Insam et al., 1991, Goyal et al., 1992, Khan and Joergensen, 2006, Mandal et al., 2007). However, this relationship has not always been observed (Nilsson et al., 2005). Another important index for soil biological activity in the field is CO2 evolution (Müller et al., 2011), i.e. the sum of microbial and root respiration (Jensen et al., 1996). Application of organic fertilizers to soil increases CO2 emissions caused by microbial decomposition processes (Jensen et al., 1997, Terhoeven-Urselmans et al., 2009).
In the present field experiment, horse manure and yard-waste compost, derived from shrub and tree clippings were supplied at nearly equivalent N amounts but different C amounts to field peas (P. sativum L.), either as a sole crop or intercropped with oats (A. sativa L.). The underlying hypotheses were: (1) C-rich organic fertilizers have beneficial effects on pea productivity in different cropping systems. (2) These beneficial effects are reflected by CO2 production and microbial biomass indices. The specific objectives were to compare the effects of horse manure and yard-waste compost (a) on microbial indices in soil and roots, and (b) on growth and yield of peas, grown as the sole crop or intercropped with oats. (c) to study the residual effects of the organic fertilizers on wheat as a succeeding crop in organic farming.
Section snippets
Site and soil
The field experiment was carried out from April to August 2009 for the target crops and from October 2009 to August 2010 for the succeeding wheat crop at Frankenhausen, the experimental farm of the University of Kassel in northern Hessia (51°24′ N, 9° 25′ E, and 248 m above sea level). Total precipitation for the year 2009 was 528 mm, 170 mm below the long-term average, but evenly distributed throughout the growing season (Fig. 1). The mean temperature was 9.2 °C, 0.6 °C above the long-term average
Plant yield and nutrient concentration
Pea plants started to emerge in all treatments on 20 April (11 DAS). Oats emerged a few days earlier than peas. The number of pea plants varied around 62 m−2 ± 5 (standard error) and that of oat plants around 50 ± 5. Peas started to flower on 8 June in the manure treatments and three days later in the other treatments. Percentage of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) intercepted by the canopy was more than 90% at the two stages of pea development both in sole and intercropped plots (Table 2).
Crop yield and nutrient concentrations
Pea grain yields (Fig. 2b) in the control treatment of the sole pea plots were similar to those obtained under organic cultivation (Saucke and Ackermann, 2006), but lower than those produced under conventionally grown peas (Neumann et al., 2007, Neumann et al., 2009, Ghaley et al., 2005, Hauggaard-Nielsen et al., 2001). Surprisingly, organic fertilizer addition did not enhance the yields of peas and oats in intercropped plots and, moreover, led to a yield reduction in the sole pea plots (Fig. 2
Conclusions
Short term application of horse manure and compost greatly stimulated soil microbial biomass and CO2 production, but failed to stimulate productivity of the current crops. Consequently, no correlation existed between any of the yield parameters and microbial biomass indices. In contrast, the close relationships between grain N and P concentrations and microbial biomass C, N and P suggest that the soil microbial biomass can be used as an indicator of nutrient availability to plants. Significant
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Anke Mindermann for field and laboratory assistance. We greatly appreciate the technical assistance of Gabriele Dormann. This project was supported by a grant from the University of Al-Baath - Homs, Syria, by a grant from the BMELV project “Increase in the added value of organically produced market crops by optimising the management of soil fertility. 08OE008” and in part also by a grant of the Research Training Group 1397 “Regulation of soil organic matter and nutrient
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