Long-term effective microorganisms application promote growth and increase yields and nutrition of wheat in China

Abstract

An eleven years long-term field experiment for soil fertility and crop yield improvement had been conducted at China Agricultural University's Qu-Zhou experiment station since 1993. The field experiment included three treatments: effective microorganisms (EM) compost treatment; traditional compost treatment; and unfertilized control. The results revealed that long-term application of EM compost gave the highest values for the measured parameters and the lowest values in the control plot. The application of EM in combination with compost significantly increased wheat straw biomass, grain yields, straw and grain nutrition compared with traditional compost and control treatment. Wheat straw biomass, grain yields, straw and grain nutrition were significantly higher in compost soils than in untreated soil. This study indicated that application of EM significantly increased the efficiency of organic nutrient sources.