Effects of Different Organic Soil Amendments on Nitrogen Nutrition and Yield of Organic Greenhouse Tomato Crop

Manure is a common source of nitrogen (N) in organic farming. However, manure is not always easily available, while the maximum N amount added as animal manure in organic agriculture is restricted by EU regulations. The present study was designed to test whether green manuring with a warm-season leg...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nitrogen (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2021-09, Vol.2 (3), p.347-358
Main Authors: Gatsios, Anastasios, Ntatsi, Georgia, Yfantopoulos, Dionisios, Baltzoi, Penelope, Karapanos, Ioannis C., Tsirogiannis, Ioannis, Patakioutas, Georgios, Savvas, Dimitrios
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural practices
Agricultural production
Animal manures
Biological activity
Biomass
Broad beans
Climate change
Composting
Composts
cowpea
Cowpeas
Crop residues
Crops
Experiments
faba bean
Farm buildings
Farming
Farms
Fertilization
Fertilizers
green manure
Greenhouses
Humidity
intercrop
Intercropping
Legumes
Manures
Mineralization
Nitrogen
Nutrition
Organic farming
Organic soils
Regulation
Residues
rhizobia
Seeds
Soil amendment
Soil fertility
Solanum lycopersicum
Tomatoes
Vigna unguiculata
Winter
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Summary:Manure is a common source of nitrogen (N) in organic farming. However, manure is not always easily available, while the maximum N amount added as animal manure in organic agriculture is restricted by EU regulations. The present study was designed to test whether green manuring with a warm-season legume and intercropping with a cold-season legume can substitute farm-yard manure or compost as N sources in organic greenhouse tomato crops. To test this hypothesis, a winter-spring (WS) tomato crop was installed in February following the incorporation of crop residues of an autumn-winter (AW) tomato crop intercropped with faba bean, which had been fertilized with cowpea residues as green manure. This treatment, henceforth termed legume treatment (LT), was compared with the use of compost or manure as an N fertilization source in both tomato crops. In addition, a combination of compost and LT was also used as a fourth treatment. The results showed that green manuring with legumes and particularly cowpea can contribute a significant amount of N to the following organic tomato crop, through the biological fixation process. Nevertheless, legumes as green manure, or compost, or their combination cannot efficiently replace farmyard manure as an N fertilization source. Compost exhibited a slow mineralization course.
ISSN:2504-3129
2504-3129
DOI:10.3390/nitrogen2030024