Effect of Liquid Organic Fertilizer and Zeolite on Plant Available Water Content of Sand and Growth of Perennial Ryegrass (Lolium perenne)

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.

Application of Organic Fertilizers Optimizes Water Consumption Characteristics and Improves Seed Yield of Oilseed Flax in Semi-Arid Areas of the Loess Plateau

“…With the increase in temperature, the remaining soil moisture and nutrients in the early growth stage can promote oilseed flax growth and development. Organic fertilizers also increase oilseed flax's use of deep soil water storage, reduce soil moisture stress, regulate oilseed flax's water consumption process, play a regulatory role in "adjusting water with fertilizer", create a suitable soil moisture environment for oilseed flax growth, and have been proven to have an effect on reducing water consumption [30]. In this study, although there was no difference in total water consumption between years under organic fertilizer treatment, there was a significant difference in stage water consumption.…”

A Systematic Review of the Potential of a Dynamic Hydrogel as a Substrate for Sustainable Agriculture

“…Typically, nutrients are negatively charged ions and are attracted to positively charged ions, such as NH 4 + , potassium (K + ), calcium (Ca 2+ ), and magnesium (Mg 2+ ) [17]. The ability of the cultivation medium to adsorb the cations is known as cation exchange capacity (CEC) which could be manipulated through soil amendment, such as fertiliser application, to improve soil properties during low nutrient provision conditions [32]. In soilless agriculture, controlling the number of nutrients and pH in the cultivation medium is easily performed by regular monitoring via a portable conductivity meter and a pH meter [33,90].…”

“…Several studies on superabsorbent polymer hydrogel as a planting medium demonstrated positive effects on plant growth performances and physiological traits, viz. improved turf index quality, colour, density, ground cover, fruits, and essential oil yield in sweet basil and lemon [78] without compromising their physiological traits [31][32][33]91].…”

“…Scholars have been investigating the effects of superabsorbent hydrogels as a soil amendment on various soil types (sand, sandy loam, peat) [26,32,33], dosage rates [11,29,34], and base types [18,33,35] on plant growth [4,36]. Nevertheless, although numerous studies focused on applying hydrogel in soilless agriculture, systematic reviews of the existing reports are still limited.…”