Abstract
Alfalfa is a good green manure source, but its effect on rice growth has not been fully elucidated. Two green manure species, alfalfa and broad bean (Vicia faba L.), and two N fertilizer levels, alone or combination, were applied to a rice field. The results indicated that alfalfa had more pronounced effects on increasing soil labile phosphorus (P) fractions (including NaHCO3-Pi, NaOH-Pi), P uptake and soil enzyme activities (dehydrogenase, urease, acid phosphatase and β-glucosidase) than broad bean and N fertilizer. The transformation of NaHCO3-Po to labile P regulated by alfalfa played a significant direct and indirect effect on grain yield. Although a much lower N input from alfalfa addition, a similar grain yield with N fertilizer treatment was achieved, and the integration of alfalfa with N fertilizer produced the highest grain yield and P availability, which was associated with the highest urease, acid phosphatase and β-glucosidase activity in soil. These results indicate that alfalfa green manure had a great ability of increasing grain yield through enhancing P availability in rice paddy, which could give us a way to reduce N fertilizer application by enhancing P availability.
Highlights
Alfalfa is a good green manure source, but its effect on rice growth has not been fully elucidated
Soil microorganisms can increase the utilization of organic P via production of extracellular enzymes to prevent P limitation in highly weathered or strongly acidic soils, and available P pools strongly correlate with microbial composition and soil enzyme production[15]
The alfalfa green manure treatment produced higher grain yield compared to the broad bean green manure treatment (Table 1)
Summary
Alfalfa is a good green manure source, but its effect on rice growth has not been fully elucidated. The results indicated that alfalfa had more pronounced effects on increasing soil labile phosphorus (P) fractions (including NaHCO3-Pi, NaOH-Pi), P uptake and soil enzyme activities (dehydrogenase, urease, acid phosphatase and β-glucosidase) than broad bean and N fertilizer. A much lower N input from alfalfa addition, a similar grain yield with N fertilizer treatment was achieved, and the integration of alfalfa with N fertilizer produced the highest grain yield and P availability, which was associated with the highest urease, acid phosphatase and β-glucosidase activity in soil These results indicate that alfalfa green manure had a great ability of increasing grain yield through enhancing P availability in rice paddy, which could give us a way to reduce N fertilizer application by enhancing P availability. Soil enzyme production strongly affects biochemical processes involving the decomposition of organic residues and nutrient cycling in soils[19], and can indicate the potential of soil to support the biochemical processes[14]
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