Abstract

GARCIA-LOPEZ, Ana M.  and  HORTA, Carmo. Effects of compost on lettuce (Lactuca sativa) yield and soil biochemical properties. Rev. de Ciências Agrárias [online]. 2022, vol.45, n.4, pp.421-430.  Epub Dec 01, 2022. ISSN 0871-018X.  https://doi.org/10.19084/rca.28488.

Amended soils with compost produced from livestock effluents can increase soil fertility and crop productivity. The aim of this work was to assess the effect of the fertilization with a compost on the soil enzymatic activity and yield of a lettuce crop. An experiment was carried out under field conditions with the following treatments: control without fertilization; mineral N fertilization with 85 kg N ha−1 (Ni85); fertilization with compost in pellets (CP170N) at N dose of 170 kg ha−1; fertilization with CP at N dose of 85 kg ha−1 together with mineral N at 42.5 kg ha-1(CP85N+Ni42.5). The fertilization increased the lettuce biomass compared with the control treatment; the pelletized compost showed similar yields (P >0.05) than those obtained with the mineral N fertilization. The acid phosphatase and the total microbial biomass increased significantly in the soils fertilized with CP170N treatment. However, the alkaline phosphatase and (-glucosidase were similar between the treatments. The acidic pH of the soil may have decreased the alkaline phosphatase activity. The application of the pelletized compost at a dose of 170 kg N ha-1 showed the best agronomic behavior regarding the lettuce yield, the soil microbial biomass and the acid phosphatase activity.

Keywords : acid phosphatase; pelletized compost; soil enzimatic activities; vegetable crops.

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