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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Crop and Product Physiology
Volume 15 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1467931
This article is part of the Research Topic Enhancing Agricultural Water Management: Techniques for Improving Crop Water Efficiency and Sustainability View all 6 articles
Organic fertilizer increases pumpkin production by improving soil fertility
Provisionally accepted
Fangfang Ren
1
Jinxia Zhang
1*
Lin Ding
2
Fuqiang Li
1
Rui Zhang
1
Xuan Li
1
Tao Zhong
1
Meng Yin
1
Runheng Yang
1
Pengliang Tian
1
Liangliang Du
1
Kaiyuan Gan
1
Tian Yong
1
Qirun Li
1
Xingrong Liu
3- 1 Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, China
- 2 Gansu Academy for Water Conservancy, Lanzhou, China
- 3 Gansu Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China
Compared with long-term and continuous application of large amounts of chemical fertilizers, fertilizers with microbial organic nutrient sources can improve soil environment, increase soil fertility and increase crop yield. In view of the current low soil fertility and poor soil environment leading to low crop yield and instability in the arid regions of northwest China, the effects of organic fertilizer with microbial nutrient sources on soil nutrients and pumpkin yield were studied in 2022 and 2023 in this region. The fertilizer application level was used as control factor, with four treatments of low level (L), medium level (M), high level (H), and a conventional fertilizer control (CK). The results showed that the high application level of organic fertilizer was more beneficial to the growth of pumpkin, and the stem diameter, vine length, and leaf area of pumpkin under H treatment were the highest from 2022 to 2023. Compared to CK, the average soil bulk density was significantly decreased by 8.2718.51% (P< 0.05); the soil organic carbon, available phosphorus, available potassium, and nitrate nitrogen under H treatment were increased by an average of 32.37%, 21.85%, 18.70%, and 36.97%, respectively. Under different organic fertilizer treatments, the pumpkin yield under M treatment was the highest, reaching 30926.18 kg•ha -1 , followed by H treatment. compared to CK, M and H treatments increased the yield by 25.26% and 7.01%, respectively, and improved water use efficiency by 14.18% and 2.21%, respectively. Redundancy analysis (RDA) of soil nutrients, pumpkin growth dynamics and yield in 2022 and 2023 showed that soil organic carbon, available phosphorus, available potassium, nitrate nitrogen, and water use efficiency were significantly positively correlated with pumpkin yield (P<0.01). In conclusion, H and M treatments can improve soil fertility promote pumpkin growth and development, and ultimately increase pumpkin yield. In summary, medium organic fertilizer
Keywords: organic fertilizer, soil bulk density, Soil Organic Carbon, Soil NPK, Pumpkin Yield
Received: 21 Jul 2024; Accepted: 15 Oct 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Ren, Zhang, Ding, Li, Zhang, Li, Zhong, Yin, Yang, Tian, Du, Gan, Yong, Li and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jinxia Zhang, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, China
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