IMPROVEMENT OF SANDY SOIL CHARACTERISTICS AND ITS PRODUCTIVITY OF WHEAT CROP USING ORGANIC AND MINERAL-N FERTILIZATION

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out on sandy soil at the Farm of Ismailia Agric. Res. Station, Ismailia Governorate, Egypt (Latitude, 30o 35' 41.901 N and longitude, 32o 16' 45.834 E) during the two successive growing winter seasons, i.e., 2016 / 2017 and 2017 / 2018 on wheat plant ( Triticum aestivum L.) variety Misr 1, to study the individual and combined effect of organic fertilizers (farmyard manure or potassium humate) and mineral nitrogen fertilization levels ( 0, 50, 75 and 100 kg N fed.-1 as ammonium nitrate 33.5 % N) on plant growth, yield and its components as well as nutrient contents, apparent nitrogen recovery efficiency (ANRE) and agronomical efficiency, also on some chemical and physical properties of the studied soil. Application rates of farmyard manure (FYM) were 0 and 5 ton fed.-1, while potassium humate at rates of 0 and 5 kg fed.-1. The layout of the experiment was a split- plot design, with the main plots arranged in a randomized complete blocks design, with three replicates. The results showed that, there are a significant increases of the estimated growth parameters, i.e. plant height (cm), spike length (cm), number of tillers/ plant, number grains/ spike as well as straw and grain yields of wheat plants and their content (concentration and uptake) of the determined macro- ( N, P and K) and micro- (Fe, Mn and Zn) nutrients and protein content as a result of N, FYM and K-humate applications in both individually and together. The highest values of these determinations were found in the plants fertilized by N + FYM followed by these resulted from the treatment of N + potassium humate, except weight 1000 grains, grain yield and K content which gave the highest values with the treatment of N + potassium humate. In addition, individual applications of N resulted in a decrease in the soil content of available macro- (N, P and K) and micro- (Fe, Mn and Zn) nutrients, but increased the soil content of available compared with the control treatment. On the other hand, there are an increase of soil content of available macro- and micro-nutrients under study as a result of individual applications of FYM and K-humate with the superior increase of FYM compared with that with K-humate, except the soil content of available K. Also, the soil content of OM was decreased with the increase of added N, but increased as a result of FYM and K-humate applications alone. Soil bulk density was increased in the fertilized by N alone and decreased in the soil fertilized by individual applications of FYM and K-humate. The obtained data from this study concluded that, under sandy soil conditions, organic fertilizers played a major role in sandy soil fertility and its productivity of wheat plants and it's become more efficiency if its application in combination with mineral nitrogen fertilization.