Influence of using Mycorrhizae (MH) with Vermicompost (VRF) on Soil Properties, Soybean (Glycine max L.) Growth and Yield

Abstract

The research team conducted pots experiment in a Silty clay loam soil to investigate the effect of inoculation with Mycorrhizae (MH), Vermicompost fertilizer (VRF) and chemical fertilization (CF) on the growth and yield of soybean (Glycine max) and some soil properties after cultivation, The team used complete randomized design CRD experimental system of three replications. Experimental treatments were; control (zero addition) (T1), the addition of CF alone as a complete recommendation (100 N, 160 P2O5, 80 K2O kg.ha-1) (T2), addition of MH fungi (10 g.pot-1) (T3), MH + half of the CF recommendation (T4), VRF (2 tons.ha-1) (T5), VRF + half of the CF recommendation (T6), VRF + MH (4 ton.donm-1) (T7), and finally MH + VRF + half CF recommendation (T8), in addition to interactions among these parameters. The seeds of the soybean were inoculated with specialized rhizobia (RHZ). Then, they were implanted on May 5, 2019. After maturity of the pods, they were harvested on 1st September, 2019. The important plant, yield, and some soil properties were analyzed post cultivation. The results indicated that (T8) was the best in improving the growth and yield properties and gave significant differences compared to T2, T3, and T4, as this treatment gave the maximum height of the plant (PLH) (89.8 cm. plant-1), the best leaf area (LA) of (68.4 dcm2.plant-1), the maximum green total weight (GTW) of (58.6 gm.plant-1), The highest dry weight of roots (DRW) (12.8 gm plant-1), the highest number of pods (NPP) of (195.6 pods.plant-1), the highest number of grains per pod (NGP) of (2.96 grain. pod-1) and the highest total yield (TY) of 110.8 gm plant-1. Regarding soil properties after cultivation, The T8 treatment recorded the least values of soil pH and EC, as it decreased to 7.25 and 2.26 dS.m-1, respectively, while the number of active root nodules (ARN) and O.M of soil increased to 60.3 nodes.plant-1 and 2.96%, respectively. The T8 treatment recorded the maximum soil nutrition content (SNC) after cultivation for total N and available PK which were (198.2%, 28.7 mg.kg-1, and 188.2 mg,kg-1) respectively. While the other treatments were in the following order T7 > T4 > T6 > T3 > T5 > T2 > T1.