The effect of horn-manure preparation on enzymes activity and nutrient contents in soil as well as great pumpkin yield

• Main Authors: Juknevičienė Edita, Danilčenko Honorata, Jarienė Elvyra, Fritz Jürgen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: De Gruyter 2019-08-01
• Series: Open Agriculture
• Subjects: chlorophyll index; horn-manure preparation; pumpkins; soil enzymes
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1515/opag-2019-0044

This investigation was inspired by an increasing global issue on how to improve soil quality while using alternative preparations instead of synthetic fertilizers. The main aim of a three-year study was to investigate the influence of horn-manure preparation on enzyme activity and nutrient content in soil and pumpkin yield. The results showed that significantly higher amounts of P (respectively 106 and 79 mg kg−1 CAL), K (149 and 106 mg kg−1 CAL), nitrogen (5.41 and 3.21 mg kg−1), ammoniacal nitrogen (9.38 and 3.45 mg kg−1) and mineral nitrogen (7.97 and 5.67 mg kg−1) were measured in the plots where the horn-manure preparation was used. A higher activity of the soil enzymes (urease activity was 1.93 times higher and the saccharase activity was 1.05 times higher) were identified with horn-manure. The average soil CO2 flux (Fc) value, when using horn-manure preparation (from 56 till 70 day), was significantly higher by 5.32% in the middle of the growing season. The yield of pumpkin was significantly increased by 18% with horn manure treatments. Significant positive correlations were identified between pumpkin yield and urease activity, and saccharase activity, as well as soil P and K.