Effect of Liquid Organic Fertilizer and Zeolite on Plant Available Water Content of Sand and Growth of Perennial Ryegras
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Effect of Liquid Organic Fertilizer and Zeolite on Plant Available Water Content of Sand and Growth of Perennial Ryegrass (Lolium perenne) Saman Mostafazadeh-Fard 1 & Zohrab Samani 1 & Paola Bandini 1
&
Manoj Shukla 2
Received: 4 June 2020 / Accepted: 5 November 2020 # Sociedad Chilena de la Ciencia del Suelo 2020
Abstract The use of high permeability soils with low plant available water content (PAWC) for cultivation of plants in the greenhouses, green roofs, and urban green spaces requires frequent irrigation, which leads to high water consumption. This paper presents an innovative method consisting of combined use of sustainably produced liquid organic fertilizer (LOF) extracted from landscape grass waste and clinoptilolite zeolite for improving PAWC of sand. The study included four substrates, namely sand (S), sand with 20% zeolite (SZ), sand treated with LOF (SLOF), and sand with 20% zeolite treated with LOF (SZLOF), to evaluate the effect of LOF and zeolite on PAWC of sand. The effect of three growth medium treatments, sand that received LOF fertilizer (LOF1), sand with 20% zeolite that received LOF fertilizer (ZLOF), and sand that received inorganic fertilizer (CF1), through a greenhouse experiment during two growing seasons (fall and summer) on productivity of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) and properties of its growth medium was also evaluated. Combined use of LOF and zeolite increased the volumetric water content of sand by 29, 154, and 220% at 0, 30, and 100 centibar (CB) suctions compared to S substrate, respectively, and increased the dry biomass yield (DBY) of perennial ryegrass by 42% in ZLOF during the summer season compared to CF1 growth medium. Additionally, the content of organic matter, nitrogen, and phosphorus increased by 25, 120, and 84%, respectively, for ZLOF treatment compared to 33, 40, and 53% for LOF1 treatment. The outcomes of the experiments demonstrate the feasibility of using LOF and zeolite to improve the PAWC of sand and DBY of perennial ryegrass. Keywords Fertilizer . Water content . Zeolite . Greenhouse . Organic . Suction measurement
1 Introduction Irrigation limitations, increased rate of desiccation caused by exposure and free drainage in sandy soils, and water stress are * Saman Mostafazadeh-Fard [email protected] Zohrab Samani [email protected] Paola Bandini [email protected] Manoj Shukla [email protected] 1
Department of Civil Engineering, New Mexico State University, PO Box 30001, MSC 3CE, Las Cruces, NM 88003-8001, USA
2
Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, New Mexico State University, PO Box 30003, MSC 3Q, Las Cruces, NM 88003-8003, USA
some of the most common difficulties faced by farmers (Young et al. 2014). These are also major issues in greenhouses, where growers are mostly restricted to use high permeability growth mediums to avoid soil pore clogging caused by capillary barrier. In addition, growth mediums with high permeability such as sand have inherently low plant available water content (PAWC) and low nutrient content. In th
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