Influence of spent mushroom compost on crop productivity

Abstract

As development of mushroom industry in Russia is growing, and the amount of spent mushroom composts is increasing, they are actively used as organomineral fertilizers for agricultural crops. Therefore, from the rather large problem of storing waste composts, these fertilizers began to be in great demand in the agricultural industry. Organic fertilizers are characterized by a high percentage of nutrients. They are able to improve physical properties of soil by increasing aggregative stability and reducing soil density. Organic fertilizers improve biological and biochemical properties of soil, and positively affect the development of soil microbial community. In the experiments, the content of nutrients in fresh compost and compost after one year of storage averaged: ash content - 8.0 and 74.1 %; organic matter - 66.3 and 25.9 %; NPK (%) - 0.50, 0.63, 0.44 and 0.45, 0.51, 0.39, respectively, under a favorable soil acidity (pH 8.0-7.3). In studies carried out on dark grey forest soils of the Ryazan region, the maximum productivity of agricultural crops was noted in variants with application of half-ripened compost: the yield of spring wheat was 2.82 t/ha (+ 0.23 t/ha compared to the control); spring barley - 3.21 t/ha (+0.17); spring rapeseed - 1.77 t/ha (+0.24); potato cv. Vympel - 27.91 (+ 4.41); potato cv. Kolobok - 11.21 t/ha (+1.63); pea - 2.10 t/ha (+0.21). The high efficiency of spent mushroom composts as fertilizers for increasing yields of spring barley and wheat, spring rapeseed, potatoes and peas was confirmed.