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. 2024 Mar 22;13(7):920.
doi: 10.3390/plants13070920.

Effect of Biostimulant, Manure Stabilizer, and Manure on Soil Physical Properties and Vegetation Status

Václav Novák  1 , Petr Šařec  1 , Oldřich Látal  2
Affiliations

Effect of Biostimulant, Manure Stabilizer, and Manure on Soil Physical Properties and Vegetation Status

Václav Novák et al. Plants (Basel). .

Abstract

Food production sustainability is one of contemporary agriculture's fundamental challenges. Farmers are currently facing high input prices in crop production and declining organic matter in the soil. For this reason, a field experiment was established to assess the effect of the biostimulant NeOsol (NS), the manure stabilizer Z'fix (ZF), farmyard manure (FM), and their combination in farm practice. In situ measurements provided information on the change in bulk density (BD), unit draft (UD), saturated hydraulic conductivity (SHC), and cone index (CI). Furthermore, the vegetation status was investigated via vegetation indices, and the yield and quality parameters were assessed. Management of the experimental field resulted in an overall decrease in BD over time for the treated variants compared to the control (CL). The decrease with time was also verified in the case of UD and CI at the depth zone of 10-20 cm. Variants FM (by 8.0%), FM_NS (by 7.3%), and FM_ZF_NS (by 3.8%) proved to have lower UD values than CL. An overall increase in SHC and in yield was observed over time. Concerning SHC, only FM (by 58.5%) proved different from CL. The yield of all the treated variants, i.e., NS (by 8.2%), FM (by 10.8%), FM_NS (by 14.1%), FM_ZF (by 17.8%), and FM_ZF_NS (by 20.1%), surpassed CL. Simultaneously, none of the examined treatments proved to have any adverse effect either on soil or on plant-related variables.

Keywords: NeOsol; Z’fix; bulk density; cone index; crude fat; crude protein; remote sensing; saturated hydraulic conductivity; unit draft; yield.

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Conflict of interest statement

Oldřich Látal was employed by the company “Agrovyzkum Rapotin Ltd.”. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Values of soil physical characteristics: (a) bulk density (BD); (b) unit draft (UD); and (c) saturated hydraulic conductivity (SHC) relative to the respective control variant (CL) for different variants of farmyard manure (FM), farmyard manure stabilized by Z’fix (FM_ZF), and biostimulant NeOsol (NS) application in individual terms; vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Values of cone index (CI) for different variants of farmyard manure (FM), farmyard manure stabilized by Z’fix (FM_ZF), and biostimulant NeOsol (NS) application in individual terms; vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Average values of (a) yield and (b) given qualitative parameter relative to the respective control variant (CL) for different variants of farmyard manure (FM), farmyard manure stabilized by Z’fix (FM_ZF), and biostimulant NeOsol (NS) application in individual years; vertical bars denote 0.95 confidence intervals.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Change in (a) soil-related variables (unit draft, cone index) and (b) soil- and plant-related variables (bulk density, saturated hydraulic conductivity, yield, qualitative parameters) relative to the respective control variant (CL) for different variants of farmyard manure (FM), farmyard manure stabilized by Z’fix (FM_ZF), and biostimulant NeOsol (NS) application over the monitored period; lowercase letters denote significant differences at probability level of 0.05.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Unit draft (UD) measurement using the towing tractor New Holland T8030 and the implement Farmet Hurikán tine cultivator.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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