Original articleThe application of vegetable, fruit and garden waste (VFG) compost in addition to cattle slurry in a silage maize monoculture: Effects on soil fauna and yield
Introduction
The selective collection of the organic fraction of household wastes, collectively referred to as vegetable, fruit and garden wastes (VFG), opens perspectives for its reuse in plant production. In the region of Flanders (North of Belgium), VFG wastes have been collected selectively and composted from 1992 on, to produce VFG compost [2]. Over time the amount of waste collected and the compost produced from it has grown steadily. In 2005, about 370 000 ton VFG waste was collected from which 136 000 ton VFG compost was produced (compared to about 34 600 ton VFG waste and 12 000 VFG compost in 1992). Currently the main share of this compost is used for non-professional applications. However, agriculture and horticulture can be considered potentially important purchasers of VFG compost in the future. The main reason why this compost is not widely used there yet, is a lack of knowledge of its agronomic value.
Compost was shown to: (i) protect the soil against erosion [3], [19]; (ii) to have beneficial effects on soil physical properties such as total porosity, saturated hydraulic conductivity, available water content [9] and aggregate stability [15]; (iii) to decrease soil acidity [36] and soil bulk density [9]; and (iv) to increase soil organic matter content [9]. Additionally, composts have the potential to protect crops against pathogens [11], [16], [25], [35], which has been attributed to different mechanisms, such as increased parasitism and antibiosis and induced resistance [24]. There is evidence that immature compost can be used for weed control, due to the presence of phytotoxins like acetic and propionic acid [30].
The use of compost has a significant impact on the soil fauna and flora. Pfotzer and Schüler [32] and Forge et al. [21] proved that the application of compost enhanced the biological activity of the soil (higher microbial activity and higher numbers of protozoa and bacterivorous nematodes), resulting in enhanced turnover of organic matter and release of plant available nutrients. Soil biota can be considered important soil quality indicators. In translocating and transforming litter and soil organic matter and in changing the supply of nutrients to plant roots, they fulfil crucial roles in the control of water, nutrients and soil structure [7]. Compost application can strengthen the role of the living soil. This point is often overlooked, because in conventional agriculture the soil biota are effectively bypassed by soil tillage, mineral fertilizers and pesticides. However, if modern agriculture has to rely more on internal resources (e.g. the recycling of organic matter), restoring and sustaining the major functions of the soil biota is pertinent [7].
To date, very few studies exist on the effects of VFG compost application to soil, and to our knowledge no studies examined the combined effect of VFG compost and cattle slurry on crop yield and soil fauna. The aim of this research was to investigate the effects of a combined application of VFG compost and cattle slurry over a 7-year period on maize dry matter (DM) yield and on three soil faunal groups: nematodes, micro-arthropods (springtails and mites) and earthworms. These groups were chosen as major constituents of the soil food web.
Section snippets
Experimental design
The experimental field site, located in Melle (experimental site of Ghent University, Belgium, 50°59′ N, 03°49′ E, 11 m above sea level), was monocropped with maize since 1982. The soil of the experimental site is a sandy loam soil with the following granulometric composition: 10.4% 0–2 μm, 42.0% 2–50 μm and 47.6% >50 μm. From 1997 the field is used for a long term experiment with different types of organic and inorganic fertilizers. A block design with three replicates is used to assess the impact
Nematodes
Seven years of different organic fertilizer treatments influenced nematode presence. The diversity of plant parasitic nematodes was restricted to only one species of the genus Pratylenchus and a restricted number of species of the family Tylenchidae. At both samplings the plant parasitic nematodes were less abundant in plots receiving organic amendments (Table 3). However the type of organic matter determined the presence of the species: Pratylenchus was more abundant when no compost was
Discussion
The effects of organic amendments on the population dynamics of plant parasitic nematodes such as Pratylenchus sp. and the Tylenchidae have been investigated before, but the results are not at all univocal. McSorley et al. [27] and Bulluck et al. [8] found that plant parasitic nematode communities were not affected by organic soil amendments, and argue that this is consistent with other (short term) research. In contrast, Weiss et al. [38] described an increase in the number of plant parasitic
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Nancy De Sutter and Johan Witters from the Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research, for assistance with the identification of the nematodes, springtails and mites, and Franky Van Peteghem and Jean-Pierre Van Maerke for their assistance with the field work.
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