Abstract
This study was initiated to determine the effect of organic farm-derived liquid fertilizer (LF) on (1) the performance of open-field cucumbers (Cucumis sativus L.) and (2) the soil environment. Treatments included fertigation with a 0.2% solution of an equal T-N concentration on each LF, including long-term non-treatment (LNT, groundwater), non-treatment (NT, groundwater), oil cake (OC), bone meal + fish residue (BF), fish extract + active phosphoric acid (FP), sesame oil (SO), and starfish (SF). Electrical conductivity (EC) in LF was increased in the SF or BF, with high concentrations of T-C observed in the OC and BF and high P in the SO. LNT treatment decreased soil mineral nutrient concentrations and numbers of bacterial operational taxonomic units, invertebrates, and earthworms, significantly increasing infection of powdery mildew and downy mildew for the plants but reducing foliar concentrations of T-N, P, Ca, and SPAD values, and vegetative growth parameters. Soil bulk density decreased in the SF and SO plots. Total fruit yield and fruit yield efficiency were enhanced by BF, FP, SO, and SF treatments, with the highest top grade values observed on the FP- and SO-fruit. Overall, all the organic LF, in particular the SO treatment, would have improved eco-physiological sustainability and provided an alternative organic fertilizer for a short growing period.
Highlights
Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is popular fin Korean side dishes raw, salted, or seasoned, and ranks in the top ten vegetables in terms of production and cultivation area [1]
In 2019, our previous study was conducted with fertigation of different organic liquid fertilizers (LF) as an additional fertilizer for cherry tomato plants without use of chemical soluble fertilizer, insecticide, or herbicide after planting [10], which repeated the trials in 2020, adding long-term non-treatment (LNT) plots over ten years
The Electrical conductivity (EC) levels in LF declined on the NF but increased on the SF or BF
Summary
Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is popular fin Korean side dishes raw, salted, or seasoned, and ranks in the top ten vegetables in terms of production and cultivation area [1]. The production and cultivation area used for cucumber consistently decreased in the 30 years between 1985 and 2015 in S. In particular for open-field systems largely influenced by unpredictable climatic changes in recent years [1]. Organic cucumber was reported as having the highest acceptability for consumers for the retention of the organoleptic properties compared to the conventional fruit in S. Organic cultivation could be one of the most distinguishing strategies promoting the safety and quality of the fresh fruit products as well as conserving soil ecosystems [4]. Different organic-based LF contained various concentrations of the mineral nutrients and solubilized at different rates of mineralization, presenting a difficulty in synchronizing the nutrient availability with crop demand in the open-field systems [5,10]
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