Faezeh Daryaei, Amir Ghalavand, Mohammad Reza Chaichi, Ali Soroushzadeh, Fatemeh Talebi, Aida Iranpour:
Effect of Green Manure and Integration of Zeoponix and Chemical Fertiliser on Soil Chemical and Biological Properties in Sunflower Cultivation

FAEZEH DARYAEI¹, AMIR GHALAVAND¹, MOHAMMAD REZA CHAICHI², ALI SOROUSHZADEH¹, FATEMEH TALEBI¹, AIDA IRANPOUR^1
1Tarbiat Modares University, Department of Agronomy, Iran
²Tehran University, Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Iran

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of green manure and integration of zeoponix (mixture of zeolite and chicken manure) and chemical N fertiliser urea on soil chemical and biological properties in sunflower cultivation at Tarbiat Modares University research farm, Iran. Chikling vetch (Lathrus sativus) was sown as a green manure on 21 April, 2009 and was ploughed and mixed with the soil at full blooming stage. Some plots remained uncultivated as a fallow treatment. Sunflower was sown on all plots with 50 000 plant per hectare on 27 June, 2009. The main experimental treatments consisted of different crop sequences including green manure-sunflower and fallow"=sunflower. The above treatments were assigned to the main plots. Different integrated fertilising treatments which are zeoponics+25% chemical fertiliser, zeoponics+50% chemical fertiliser, zeoponics+75% chemical fertiliser and zeoponics considered as control, were assigned as subplots to each main treatment plot. The experimental data were analysed as split plots based on a randomised complete block design with three replications.

Soil analysis test showed that the organic C content in fallow treatments significantly increased in comparison to the green manure treatments. The total N content in soil was higher in fallow treatments. In contrast, the highest P and K contents were observed in green manure ones. The highest amount of total N was observed in Z100 treatment, while for organic C, P and K amounts, Z50F50 was the best. The highest amount of carbon of microbial biomass and microbial soil respiration were observed in Z50F50 and Z100, respectively. There were no significant differences for interactions of main plots and sub plots for all traits. It could be concluded that manures had a greater effect on increasing soil organic C and N levels and we can recommend Z50F50 as the best treatment for sunflower cultivation.

Keywords: Green manure-zeoponix-chemical fertiliser"=soil chemical and biological properties

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Contact Address: Faezeh Daryaei, Tarbiat Modares University, Department of AgronomyTehran, Iran, e-mail: f daryaeimodares.ac.ir