Abstract
Common bean is usually cropped under rainfed conditions and in soils with low pH and water retention, in the sub-humid and semiarid regions of Brazil. To improve soil conditions, smallholder farmers commonly use cattle manure. However, manure is available in limited amounts, insufficient to fertilize all cropping areas. Thus, other amendments, such as poultry manure (PM) and biochar (BC), have been proposed to increase soil water retention and pH. We evaluated the effects of BC (10, 20, and 40 t ha−1; BC10, BC20, and BC40, respectively), PM (5 t ha−1; PM), the combination of both amendments (BC10 + PM, BC20 + PM, and BC40 + PM) and an absolute control (Control), with no amendment, on soil physical, chemical, and biological properties, and on common bean water use efficiency (WUE) and yield. The treatments had no effects on total organic carbon, cation exchange capacity, microbial biomass carbon, soil physical properties, and evapotranspiration. Treatment combination BC (10 t ha−1) + PM (5 t ha−1) significantly improved phosphorus concentration, enzymatic activities, WUE, and bean yield in this one-year experiment and it can be a viable management practice for smallholder farmers in the Brazilian sub-humid region. However, further investigations are required to study the long-term field effects of the best performing soil amendments.
Highlights
Population growth is increasing the demand for agricultural products [1,2], which can increase land degradation due to intensive agricultural use, often of marginal areas
The soil amendments had no significant effects on bulk density (BD), total porosity (TP), field capacity (FC), permanent wilting point (PWP), plant available water (PAW), total organic carbon content (TOC), and Microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and no effect on ET (Table 3, Table 4, Table 5, Table 6)
The soil amendments had no effect on soil pH and P concentration when compared to the absolute control, with exception of the treatments BC40 + poultry manure (PM) and BC10 + PM, which significantly increased the pH and P concentration, respectively (Table 4)
Summary
Population growth is increasing the demand for agricultural products [1,2], which can increase land degradation due to intensive agricultural use, often of marginal areas. Land degradation is a worldwide problem, in sub-humid, semiarid, and arid regions [1,10]. In these regions, water shortage, due to rainfall scarcity and irregular temporal and spatial distribution, exacerbates the difficulty in maintaining and/or increasing agricultural yield. In the sub-humid and semiarid regions of Brazil, besides water problems, there are large areas with low fertility and low water retention capacity soils [11,12]. Cattle manure is commonly added to increase total organic carbon content (TOC) and nutrient availability, to reduce acidity, and to raise the water retention capacity. Cattle manure availability is insufficient to fertilize all cropping areas and it usually has low mineral nutrient concentrations, due to the system of extensive cattle raising [13]
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