Productivity of soybean and barley plants cultivated in succession and subjected to different rock powders

Abstract

The use of rock powders, pure our combined, associated or not with organic sources can be an interesting strategy to improve soil fertility and increase plant productivity. This study aimed to evaluate the productivity of soybean and barley plants subjected to treatments with rock powders siltstone, tephrite, and olivine melilitite, pure or combined, associated or not with cattle manure compared with the conventional treatment. Two experiments with pots were carried out in a greenhouse in Cambisol and Nitisol, where soybeans and barley were cultivated, in succession, in 2019, until seed production. Plant productivity of soybean in conventional treatment was higher than the obtained in most treatments. For this same treatment, barley had greater productivity than that obtained in the other treatments. Among the tested rock powders, the best response of plants, in terms of productivity, was verified in treatments with olivine melilitite and siltstone + olivine melilitite, and poor response in those submitted to pure siltstone and tephrite. The combination of manure with these powders provided an increase in plant productivity, especially in the treatment with manure + siltstone + olivine melilitite, in which plant productivity was close to and, in some cases, higher than the obtained in the conventional treatment.