Examination of the effect of pelleted poultry manure products on a sunflower test plant in a laboratory model experiment

Nikolett Szöllősi,Nikolett Éva Kiss,Edit Gorliczay,Péter Tamás Nagy,Florence Tóth,János Tamás

doi:10.34101/actaagrar/1/8477

Abstract

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is one of the most important oil plants in Hungary, with a sown area of more than 627.000 ha in 2019. Sunflower cultivation is primarily important for use in the oil industry, but its role in feed and beekeeping cannot be neglected either. Sunflower adapts well to different production areas in terms of soil demand, yet, as important fact, it must be grown on soils with poorer conditions with intensive nutrient replenishment. From the agri-environmental point of view, in addition to the use of pelleted poultry manure products, which are also new to the consumer market, is of paramount importance. Their advantages include a wide range of nutrients as well as a soil structure improving effect. In our research, we investigated the starter effect of pelleted poultry manure products applied at different doses (200 kg ha-1 and 400 kg ha-1) on sandy soil with humus using a sunflower plant. The aim of our research to investigate the effect of using pelleted fertilizer products as starter fertilizers on sunflower plant germination, and investigate the effect of poultry manure products on soils. Based on our results, it can be stated that the pigment content (chlorophyll and carotenoid content) was positively influenced by the higher dose treatments (400 kg ha-1), thus increasing the photosynthetically active leaf area. Compared to the control, the carotenoid content in the test plants of the treatments increased, and the differences of this treatment proved to be significant (p<0.05). Our experiments supported the beneficial effect of pelleted poultry manure-based products in the soil-plant system.

Highlights

In north-eastern Hungary, concentrated poultry farming produces large amounts of manure, which can endanger the environment - mainly water bases and air - in the absence of organic fertilizers the negative nutrient balance of the region's soils deteriorates further (AKI, 2012)
Until the first third of the last century, nutrients abstracted from crop production were replaced by organic fertilizers in Hungary (Sárdi, 2011), after 1990 the number of nutrients introduced into the soil by organic fertilizers was halved due to the halving of livestock
It is not enough to replace the nutrients extracted from the crop with fertilization and to satisfy the missing nutrient needs with fertilizers, as the physicochemicalbiological effects of organic fertilizers on the soil cannot be replaced (Hoffmann, 2008)

Summary

Introduction

In north-eastern Hungary, concentrated poultry farming (broiler, goose, duck farming) produces large amounts of manure, which can endanger the environment - mainly water bases and air - in the absence of organic fertilizers the negative nutrient balance of the region's soils deteriorates further (AKI, 2012). Manure is used primarily, which can be used for soil improvement, and it can be used to replace high-cost fertilizers in crop production systems. It is not enough to replace the nutrients extracted from the crop with fertilization and to satisfy the missing nutrient needs with fertilizers, as the physicochemicalbiological effects of organic fertilizers on the soil cannot be replaced (Hoffmann, 2008). As the organic matter content of the soil decreases, these functions may be impaired and the risk of other soil degradation processes may increase. The decrease of soil organic matter content is considered to be one of the most dangerous soil destruction processes at the global and European levels (Michéli et al, 2011)

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Conclusion