| In modern agriculture,agricultural production is highly dependent on the heavy use of chemical fertilizers.Due to the improper application methods and/or management practices of chemical fertilizers,their nutrient utilization efficiency is generally low,which inevitably causing many serious ecological problems worldwide,such as polluting groundwater and damaging soil structure,as well as negatively impacting crop quality.Compared with chemical fertilizer agriculture,the application of various types of organic fertilizers or eco-friendly agricultural fertilizers is considered to be the basis for the development of environmentally friendly agriculture.Among them,compost from bio-waste is considered to be a high-quality fertilizer that can improve soil quality and increase crop yield.However,a large amount of nutrients in certain composts cannot meet the rapid growth needs of crops on time due to their slow mineralization rate.Therefore,they are commonly used with chemical fertilizer.This is the modern sustainable agriculture that had emerged recently and is considered to be more efficient and environmentally friendly and combines the advantages of organic,and chemical fertilizers.However,due to the different types of compost and the different nutrient requirements of crops,more detailed information such as the optimal fertilizer mixed rate and application time is needed to obtain the maximum production benefit.Besides,the decomposition ability of soil decomposers,such as earthworms,is also of interest in terms of increasing the rate of nutrient release from compost and improving soil conditions.Therefore,it is important to research the mixing ratio of organic fertilizers and chemical fertilizers,as well as modern sustainable agricultural biotechnology with the addition of earthworms,to improve the role of organic fertilizers in agricultural production and reduce the amount of chemical fertilizers used in agriculture.In this study,two plant growth chamber room experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of the different mixed ratios of compost and chemical fertilizer,and fertilizer application time(Experiment I),the different mixed ratios of compost and chemical fertilizer,and earthworm addition(Experiment II)on soil properties,crop yield,quality,plant traits.Specifically,the study was conducted with tomato(Solanum Lycopersicum L.)as the target crop.For experiment I,control(without fertilizer)and four mixed ratio treatments of compost and chemical fertilizer as OF0(0 compost and100% chemical fertilizer),OF30(30:70),OF50(50:50),OF70(70:30),two nitrogen application times(N25 and N50)were conducted.While for experiment II,four levels of fertilizer: OF0(0:100),OF40(40:60),OF70(70:30),and OF100(100:0)ratio of cow dung compost and chemical fertilizer,and two earthworms(with and without earthworms)treatments were set up.Soil properties(available N,organic matter,and available P),plant morphology(plant height,branch number,root to shoot ratio,number of branches,specific leaf area,total root length,and specific root length),and physiological traits(total chlorophyll,total carotenoid and N concentration of leaf),plant biomass(aboveground and belowground biomass),fruit yield(number and weight of fruits,fruit length,fruit diameter,and fruit weight per fruit),quality(total sugar,p H,vitamin C,moisture content and lycopene of tomato fruits),and the number of earthworm surviving at the end of experiment.The main conclusions are as follows:(1)The soil properties,plant traits,and yield of tomato with all compost-mixed fertilizers performed better than the treatment without fertilizer.Furthermore,the amounts of available nitrogen,phosphorus,organic matter,plant weight,and yield in a30% chemical fertilizer + 70% compost treatments(OF70)were even better than those with pure chemical fertilizer(OF0).(2)No significant effect of nitrogen application time and its interaction with the mixed ratio treatment was detected,and the quality of fruit remained consistent among treatments(3)A significantly higher effects for the earthworm especially its application with the higher ratio of organic fertilizer(OF100)on plant growth,yield,and survival rate of earthworms in comparison with the OF0(4)It was interesting in our study that OF100 treatment(higher organic doze)markedly improves the earthworm abundance,and pure chemical fertilizer treatment(no organic fertilizer)significantly loss the earthworm abundance.(5)The soils under OF100 had markedly higher values for all soil parameters(available nitrogen,phosphorus,organic matter)in comparison with the OF0 treatments regardless of earthworm application.(6)Fertilizer and its interaction with earthworms did not significantly affect morphological and physiological traits,while physiological traits were significantly affected by earthworm treatment except for carotene,and higher values of N concentration and total chlorophyll were found in the leaves of plants treated with earthworms. |
PDF Full Text Request