MANAGEMENT OF SUPPLEMENTARY N-ORGANIC SOURCES AS A PARTIAL REPLACEMENT OF N-MINERAL AS RELATED TO AMELIORATION OF SANDY SOIL PROPERTIES AND YIELDS OF A SESAME-WHEAT CROPPING SEQUENCE

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out during two successive growingseasons of 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 on a sandy soil at South TahrirProvince, Agricultural Research Station, Agricultural Research Center, AliMubarak Village, El-Bostan Region, El-Behiera Governorate, Egypt under acropping-sequence of sesame-wheat to evaluate the management proper ofsupplying N-organic manures, i.e., composted rice straw and chicken manurewastes, besides N-mineral fertilizer, with special reference to the associatedamelioration in soil physio-chemical, fertility status and productivity of thegrown plants. The experiment was setup in a randomized complete blockdesign with three replicates. Ten treatments were examined, i.e., control,100% of N-organic released from either chicken or composted rice straw,100% of the recommended of N-mineral dose as ammonium sulphate as wellas mixture ratios of N-organic : N-mineral of 3:1, 1:1 and 1:3. Theapplication of N-rates of all fertilized plots were kept at 45 kg N/fed forsesame crop at summer season and 100 kg N/fed for wheat at winter one.The obtained results showed that application of either composted ricestraw or chicken manure as solely or combined with N-mineral fertilizersignificantly improved the physical properties of the studied sandy soil, i.e.bulk density, hydraulic conductivity, infiltration rate, penetration soilresistance and soil moisture constants (field capacity, welting point andavailable water content). Also, incorporation of both N-mineral and Norganic sources caused substantial increases in soil available N, P, K, Fe, Mn,Zn and Cu. Organic matter content in soil was also increased gradually withincreasing the portion of applied N-organic sources in a mixture.Grain and straw yields of sesame and wheat were progressivelyincreased with raising the applied N-organic portion in the N-mixturesources. Also, N, P and K uptake by both grain and straw followed a trendalmost similar to that crop yields. Seed oil content and oil yield of sesamewere positively affected by the solely or combined treatments of N-organicand N-mineral. Moreover, a pronounced increase in crude protein content ofwheat grain was followed a trend similar as mentioned before. These resultsare emphasized the importance of partial replacement of N-mineral fertilizersby the use of organic ones. However, applied chicken manure was recorded abetter effect as composted to the other treatments for ameliorating soilphysico-chemical properties and fertility status as well as its productivity forthe grown crops under the prevailing experimental conditions.