Impact of Bio-Fertilizer, Humic acid and compost Tea applications on Soil Properties and Egyptian Clover productivity under Saline Soil Conditions

Abstract

Two field experiments were conducted during winter seasons of 2014/2015 and 2015/2016at Sahl El-Hossinia Agric. Res. Station, El-Sharkia -Governorate, Egypt to evaluate the effect of humic acid, compost tea and bio-fertilizer using two methods of application (foliar and soaking) on some chemical and physical soil properties and Egyptian clover (TrifoliumalexandrinumL.) var. Meskawy productivity under saline soil conditions. The soil pH and EC values decreased due to different treatments using soaking or foliar application.The lowest value of EC in soil reached (4.61 dSm -1 )by applying humic acid as foliar application.The soil content of O.M increased in caseof bio-fertilizer, humic acid and compost tea compared with control using soaking or foliar application, however, a high increase was attained by humic acid foliar application.The CEC (cmolkg -1 ) valuewas affected by different fertilizer sources using soaking or foliar application. The high mean value of CEC was 41.42cmolkg -1 in case of humic acid foliar application compared with other treatments and control. The highest values of field capacity and available water were found in case of humic acid foliar application compared to other treatments and control using soaking or foliar application. The values of soil bulk density of soil profiles treated by all treatments were relatively low compared to those of control, whereas the maximum decrease exists in soil treated byhumic acid foliar application compared to other treatments and control using soaking or foliar application. Adding humic acid as foliar application increased the soil total porosity values compared to other treatments and control. Data showed that the values of drainable pores (DP) and water holding pores (WHP) were higher than the other pores in different treatments. The highest diameters of dry aggregates were affected by humic acid foliar application compared to other treatments and control. The high values of total stable aggregates were observed incase of humic acid foliar application. Applying bio-fertilizer; humic acid and compost tea on seeds using soaking or foliar application increases significantly the clover yield and yield components except the interaction between treatments and methods of application. Humic acid with foliar application gave the highest values of Egyptian clover yield and yield components as compared by other treatments. The obtained data indicate that the Egyptian clover yield was clearly affected by all treatments under saline soil conditions. The beneficial effects of all treatments compared with control using soaking or foliar application on Egyptian clover yield could be arranged as follows according to the increases in dry yield (ton/fed)of clover: Humic acid > compost tea> Bio-fertilizer > control, for soaked application and humic acid > Bio-fertilizer > compost tea > control, for foliar application.

Influence of Compost Tea and Potassium Humate on Soil Properties and Plant Growth

“…The lowest value of soil pH 7.87 was obtained in the soil treated with foliar application of compost tea at 6 ml/L compared with other treatments. These results are in agreement by El-Maaz and Ismail [21] indicated that the soil pH decreased due to the application of compost tea a potassium humate soaking and foliar application. The slight of soil pH values may be reflect the activity microorganisms and organic matter releasing organic acid.…”

“…The order was compost tea > potassium humate > without treatments (control) for foliar application and soaking. El-Maaz and Ismail [21] indicated that soil EC decreased due to application of potassium humate and compost tea soaking and foliar compared control. These results could be explained as a reflection of the activity of microorganisms in reducing salinity and simultaneously improving soil structure; increasing drainable pores, total porosity and aggregate stability, and consequently enhanced leaching process through irrigation fractions, [22].…”

Effect of Growth Stimulant Substances on the Productivity and Quality of Some Egyptian Clover (Trifolium Alexandrinum, L.) Varieties

“…With regard to the results of 1000seed weight and seed weight /head, the obtained data showed pronouncing increase in their values when the tested stimulant substances were foliar applied in favor of HA which produced the higher increases than the other substances. Similar results were previously obtained by other researchers who reported that 1000 -seed weight of Egyptian clover was increased when the plants were sprayed with HA (El-Maaz and Ismail, 2016) or SA (Rani et al, 2017). In addition, the data of seed yield /fed indicate that there are significant increase when the clover plants were sprayed by any tested stimulant substances as compared with the control treatment in the two growing seasons.…”

“…The superiority effect of HA obtained herein may be due to its role in enhancing the uptake of macronutrients such as N, P and S (Chen and Aviad, 1990) or micronutrients such as Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn (Chen et al, 1999).Moreover, the superiority effect of SA may be due to its role in ion uptake and transport (Khan et al, 2003), the regulation of plant growth and development (Horvath et al, 2007) and enhancement of plant resistance against different biotic and abiotic stress through different mechanism (Kadioglu et al, 2011). In this concern, many investigators found improving effects of some tested stimulant substances such as HA on plant height of clover (El-Hefny, 2010; Daur, 2014 andEl-Maaz andIsmail, 2016), leaf area of cowpea (El-Hefny, 2010) and peas (Osman and Rady, 2012) and total dry weight of clover (Abbas et al, 2013) and cowpea (El-Hefny, 2010) as well as AS on number of stems / clover plant (Kumar et al, 2013 andRani et al, 2017).…”

“…The superiority of SA in increasing seed yield/fed may be mainly due to the increase in the number of heads/m 2 and/or number of seeds/head as ascertained by the previous results obtained in the same Table (9). In this concern, other investigators reported that seed yield/unit area of clover was increased by the application of some stimulant substances such as SA (Kumar et al, 2013 andRani et al, 2017) and HA (El-Maaz and Ismail, 2016).…”