application of vermicompost for marigold …marigold growth, yield data and soil properties were...
TRANSCRIPT
Abstract— The objective of this study was to examine the
influence of earthworms-vermicompost on the growth of Marigold,
and the changing of soil chemical properties. The experiment was
studied in farmer field, Chiangmai province, Thailand. The
randomized complete block design (RCBD) with five treatments and
three replications were performed. The five treatments consisted of i)
control (un fertilized) ii) inorganic fertilizer iii) vermicompost+worm
tea iv) vermicompost and v) vermicompost + inorganic fertilizer.
The results of this study showed that the combination of inorganic
fertilizer and vermicompost treatment tended to most influence to the
stem length, number of flower, fresh flower weight, height and plant
spread at 30, 60, and 90 DAP. The changing of soil chemical
properties was not significant influenced by vermicompost and/or
inorganic fertilizer, but the vermicompost added treatments tended to
increase OM, N(NH4+ + NO3-), Available P, and Extractable K in the soil
after planting. In addition, the vermicompost have raised the pH of
after planting soil as compared with inorganic fertilizer and un
fertilized soil.
Keywords—Earthworms-vermicompost, Marigold, Soils
chemical properties
I. INTRODUCTION
The amendment of vermicompost is a management practice
that may contribute to sustainable agro-ecosystems by making
them less dependent on inorganic fertilizer. Earthworm-
vermicompost (EV) is the digestion of organic material by the
digestive systems of earthworm which produce excreta known
as „casts‟ [1]. The EV is an efficient source of plant nutrients,
and it has been extensively studied as a plant growth media
and amendment [2], [3]. It contains high plant available N
contents [4]. and most nutrients are in available forms such
as nitrate, phosphates, exchangeable calcium and soluble
potassium, due to faster release of plant nutrients than
traditional composts [1], [3], [5], [6], [7]. The abundance of
EV increases the size and stability of soil aggregates, and to
protects the leaching of soil organic matter within
microaggreates [8], [9]. In addition, EV produces plant
growth hormones [10] and also contains plant growth
regulators like auxins, gibberellins and cytokinins [11]. The
amendment of EV influence to reduce some kind of disease
like Botrytis rot [12], controls the soil bacteria [13], and
population of plant parasitic nematodes [10]. It has been
shown to improve the germination, growth, quality and yield
of plants [14], [15], [16], [17]. Reference [12] showed that EV
application increased plant spread (10.7%), leaf area (23.1%)
and dry matter (20.7%), and increased total strawberry fruit
Weena Nilawonk, Maejo Universitym, Sansai, ChiangMai, Thailand,
50290. Email id: [email protected]
yield (32.7%), and the similar result was found when the EV is
used for marigold and tomato production [18], [19].
Marigold is the economic cutting plant widely produced in
the north and central part of Thailand, but there has not been
information about inorganic or organic fertilizers applications
in the scientific literature to assist farmer in improving the
economic crop production in Thailand. A hypothesis of this
study was that the flowering and yield of marigold should be
increased by addition of EV, which might improve soil
fertility in marigold production.
II. MATERIALS AND METHODS
The site was located in farmer filed, Chiang Mai, the
Northern of Thailand. The soil on the experiment site is Sansai
soils. The earthworm-vermicompost and worm tea were
prepared from vegetable waste by the earthworm
vermicomposting research unit, Maejo University. The worm
tea was selected to use in the combination with
vermicommpost in this experiment because it was observed
the plant growth regulators (Free IAA, GA3 and Cytokinins)
by determining of Central Laboratory of Chiangmai
University. The quality seeds were obtained from the natural
plant products of Maejo University, and staggered sowing was
done in the nursery to suit the plant dates, twenty-five day old
seedlings were used. Planting was done at a spacing of 50x50
cm a plot size of 1x3 m (3 m2 per plot) was constructed. The
five treatments consisted of
i) control (un fertilized)
ii) inorganic fertilizer (IF) ; 50-22-42 kg N P K ha-1
iii) vermicompost+worm tea (VW) ; vermicompost 6.25 t
ha-1 and worm tea 50 ml plant-1
iv) vermicompost (V) ; vermicompost 6.25 t ha-1
v)vermicompost+inorganic fertilizer (VIF) ; vermicompost
3.125 t ha-1 and 25-11-21 kg N P K ha-1
The randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three
replications was performed under field condition.
Observations on plant heights and spread were measured on
ten plants from each replication at 30, 60, and 90 days after
planting. At harvest, the numbers of flower and total yields
were measured, and the soil samples were collected from each
reapplication for determining the soil chemical properties at 0-
20 cm. Soil samples were air-dried and sieved (< 2 mm). Soil
pH was determined in a 1:1 (w/v) soil to solution ratio with
Co2-free distilled water. Organic matter was determined using
Walkley-Black Method. Available N- (NH4++NO3
-)
concentration were measured under procedures steam
distillation of a 2 M KCl soil extract with MgO and Devarda‟s
alloy. The soil plant available P was determined by the
Application of Vermicompost for Marigold
Production in Chiangmai, Thailand
Weena Nilawonk
International Conference on Agriculture, Environment and Biological Sciences (ICFAE’14) June 4-5, 2014 Antalya (Turkey)
http://dx.doi.org/10.17758/IAAST.A0614022 1
molybdenum blue colorimetric after extraction by 0.5 M
NaHCO3. Soil exchangeable K, Ca, and Mg were measured
using extracting 1 M NH4OAc. Soil texture was analysed by
Hydrometer Method. The chemical analysis of vermicompost
was observed (Table 1). Total nitrogen was determined by
[20] procedure. Total available phosphorus was determined
by colorimetric method. Total K, Ca, and Mg were determined
by flame photometer [21]. The pH was measured by the
method of [22], a double distilled water suspension of
vermicompost in ratio of 1:10 (w/v) that had been agitated
mechanically for 30 minutes and filtered through Whatman
No.1 filter paper.
Marigold growth, yield data and soil properties were
subjected to a one way analysis of variance to test for Least
Significant Difference (LSD). Significant differences were
determined at P ≤ 0.05.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The experimental soil (Sansai soil series) was near neutral
soil (pH 7.3), and sandy loam texture. This soil contained low
content of organic matter and available N (NH4+ +NO3
-),
moderate concentrations of available P and high level of
exchangeable K, Ca, and Mg (Table 1). The vermicompost
was a slightly alkaline substrate (pH 9.7), and contained large
amount of organic matter (15.85%), total N, P, K, Ca, and Mg
(0.8%, 0.63%, 1.44%, 1.77%, and 5.10%, respectively).
TABLE I
THE SOIL AND VERMICOMMPOST CHEMICAL PROPERTIES AT THE BEGINNING
OF THE STUDY
Chemical properties Soil Vermicompost
pH 7.3 9.7
Organic matter 0.89 % 15.85 %
N(NH4+ + NO3- ), Total 13 mg kg-1 0.80 %
PAvailable, Total 32 mg kg-1 0.63 %
K Exchangeable, Total 153mg kg-1 1.44%
Ca Exchangeable, Total 1,182 mg kg-1 1.77%
Mg Exchangeable, Total 75 mg kg-1 5.10%
Clay 10.6% -
Texture Sandy loam -
The significant influence of fertilizer treatments on the
height and plant spread of marigold was observed at 60 and 90
DAP, but the 30 DAP was not found (Table 2). The
significant higher of plant height was found in the inorganic
fertilizer and the combination of vermicompost and inorganic
fertilizer treatments than other treatments at 60 and 90 DAP.
The plant spread was significantly influenced in plot receiving
vermicompost and/or inorganic fertilizer treatments when
compared with un fertilized treatment at 60 and 90 DAP. The
significant influence of fertilizer treatments on the stem
length, number of flower, and fresh flower weight was
observed. The stem length showed significant higher in
inorganic fertilizer, vermicompost, and the combination of
vermicompost and inorganic fertilizer treatments than un
fertilized and the combination of vermicompost and worm tea
treatments. The number of flower was significant higher in
the all of fertilized than un fertilized treatments. The fresh
flower weight showed significant highest in the combination
of vermicompost and inorganic fertilizer treatment.
TABLE II
EFFECT OF FERTILIZER TREATMENTS ON THE HEIGHT AND PLANT SPREAD OF
MARIGOLD AT 30, 60, AND 90 DAYS AFTER PLANTING (DAP)
MEANS WITHIN THE COLUMN WITH THE SAME LETTER ARE NOT
SIGNIFICANTLY AT P ≤ 0.05
Treatment Height (cm) Plant spread (cm)
30 DAP
60 DAP
90 DAP
30 DAP
60 DAP
90 DAP
Control 46.0 103.5b 111.1b 37.3 58.1b 88.6b
IF 49.6 113.8a 118.7ab 38.2 62.2a 114.9a
VW 48.5 105.5b 116.7b 39.7 61.4ab 119.7a
V 49.5 105.2b 115.8b 39.2 63.8a 122.5a
VIF 50.4 115.5a 124.7a 41.2 65.9a 124.8a
The fresh flower weight was not differed in the plot
received only inorganic fertilizer, the combination of
vermicompost and worm tea, and only vermicompost
treatments (Table 3). The combination of inorganic fertilizer
and vermicompost treatment showed the trend to most
influence to the stem length, number of flower, fresh flower
weight, height and plant spread at 30, 60, and 90 DAP. This
was probably the result of the vermicomposts that have the
potential for improving the growth of marigold when added to
combine with inorganic fertilizer. The earthworm
vermicompost has been shown to improve the germination,
growth, and yield of plants, and produce the plant growth
hormones [10], [23]. In addition, the growth parameters
tended to similar for the vermicompost and inorganic fertilizer
treatments, suggesting that the vermicompost does show
potential as a good substitute for inorganic fertilizer. While,
the worm tea did not influence to plant growth, it might be the
small amount of worm tea was applied for this study.
Soil chemical properties after harvesting were determined
and shown in Table 4. The influence of fertilizers on
changing soil properties was not significant.
TABLE III
EFFECT OF FERTILIZER TREATMENTS ON THE STEM LENGTH, NUMBER AND
FRESH WEIGHT OF FLOWER PER PLANT. MEANS WITHIN THE COLUMN WITH THE
SAME LETTER ARE NOT SIGNIFICANTLY AT P ≤ 0.05
Treatment Stem Length
(cm)
Number of
flower per
plant
Fresh flower
weight per plant
(g)
Control 9.3b 34.7b 50c
IF 10.4a 42.4a 69ab
VW 9.6b 48.0a 60b
V 10.5a 45.3a 59b
VIF 10.8a 49.1a 79a
The similar result was found by [10], Reference [10]
showed that the addition of earthworm vermicompost did not
significant influence to the changing of total extractable N,
N(NH+4 + NO-3) and orthophosphates in strawberries soils.
Although this study does not show the significant influence of
vermicompost on soil chemical properties, but the
vermicompost added treatments tended to increase OM, N(NH4+
+ NO3-), Available P, and Extractable K in the soil after planting.
This was probably the result of large amount of organic
International Conference on Agriculture, Environment and Biological Sciences (ICFAE’14) June 4-5, 2014 Antalya (Turkey)
http://dx.doi.org/10.17758/IAAST.A0614022 2
matter, total N, P, and K which contained in vermicompost.
Whereas, the soil pH tended to decrease after marigold
planting.
TABLE IV
EFFECT OF FERTILIZER TREATMENTS ON THE CHANGING OF
SOIL CHEMICAL PROPERTIES.
Treatments pH OM
(%)
Avail N Avail. P Ext. K
mg kg-1
At the beginning 7.3 0.89 13 32 153
After harvested
Control 5.9 1.08 28 42 136
IF 4.6 1.17 35 78 188
VW 6.5 1.26 40 49 224
V 6.3 1.28 31 51 221
VIF 5.8 1.10 34 76 244
The most decreasing of soil pH was found in the soil which
treated by chemical fertilizer (pH = 4.6) while the soil pH of
the vermicompost, and the combination of vermicompost and
worm tea treatments was lesser effective than chemical
fertilizer treatment. It is possible that the high pH of the
earthworm vermicompost (pH 9.7) have raised the pH of after
planting soil as compared with inorganic fertilizer added soils.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The research was funded by the National Research Council of
Thailand
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International Conference on Agriculture, Environment and Biological Sciences (ICFAE’14) June 4-5, 2014 Antalya (Turkey)
http://dx.doi.org/10.17758/IAAST.A0614022 3