Abstract
Recently, in Japan, the amount of sodium and potassium in composts has tended to increase. This study clarified the effects of composts with elevated salt content on the soil and on mini tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and komatsuna (Brassica rapa var. peruviridis) growth by investigating the time course of changes in soil solution composition and cation balance. Because the application of elevated-salt compost drastically increased the concentration of potassium and sodium in the soil solution, the relative ratio of bivalent cations to monovalent cations was a key factor causing poor-growth symptoms in mini tomato and komatsuna. By introducing a new index for the activity ratio for potassium plus sodium, i.e. ARK+Na, the composition of cations in the soil solution could be evaluated quantitatively. Based on ARK+Na index, it was found that blossom-end rot occurred when the ARK+Na value was too low and exceeded a specified level (−1.25 in the present case) while mini tomato fruit still grew on the first branch. Komatsuna was successively cultivated 4 times in an Andosol and a Fluvisol with ordinary compost or elevated-salt compost. The value of ARK+Na decreased to a steady level by the beginning of the third cropping in the case of the elevated-salt compost.
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