Khaled, A. Shaban, Mona, G. Abd El-Kader and Zeinab, M. Khalil( 2012). Effect of soil amendments on soil fertility and sesame crop productivity under newly
Reclaimed soil conditions
Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 8(3): 1568-1575, 2012 ISSN 1819-544X
Abstract: Two field experiments were conducted during the two successive summer seasons of 2010 and 2011, using sesame as a test crop, in a private farm at El- Amel village, Sahl El-Tina, North Sinai governorate, Egypt. The aim was to study the effect of compost at a rate of 5 Mg fed-1 (different crop straw residues), compost tea (compost extract by 1 m3:500 L water), humic acid (10 kg dry humic acid mixed with sandy soil) and biofertilizer Azospirillum brasilense NO 40 salt tolerant, Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR), as seed coating and spraying in a liquid form on plants 21, 42 and 62 days after sesame planting, at a rate of 5 L fed-1 in combination with urea (46 % N) as mineral nitrogen fertilization rates of 20 , 30 or 40 kg N fed-1, on soil fertility and sesame (Shandaweel 3 cv) crop productivity under newly reclaimed soil conditions. Data presented
significant differences between treatments for most studied characters. The soil pH and EC tended to decrease slightly throughout the two seasons by increasing the mineral N fertilizer rate with all combinations. The available nitrogen , phosphorus , potassium , iron , manganese and zinc in soil, after sesame crop harvest, significantly influenced by these treatments under the different rates of mineral N fertilizer. The combined application of either the organic fertilizers or bio-fertilizer with the different mineral N fertilizer rates markedly increased most of growth characters, i.e. No of capsules plant-1, seed weight plant-1, seed yield kg fed-1 and weight of 1000 seeds (g). Oil and protein contents(%) in sesame seeds proved the effect of both organic and biofertilizer
application, in both seasons, specially with higher rates of mineral N fertilizer. The highest values of N, P and K contents in seeds were 3.46, 0.62 and 1.07 %, respectively achieved by soil application of humic acid combined with the high rate of mineral N fertilizer. The application of all treatments recorded marked increases in the concentration of Mn and Zn in sesame seeds, in both seasons, while Fe concentration was insignificantly affected in the second season. From the obtained results it could be concluded that bio-fertilizer and organic materials like, compost, humic acid and compost tea could be used as an integrated plant nutrition with 20, 30 or 40 kg fed-1of mineral N fertilizer producing higher sesame yield quantity and quality than those produced by the
conventional recommended mineral N dose alone, meanwhile improve the soil characters under newly reclaimed saline soil conditions. Moreover, application of such materials conserve the environment from chemical pollution hazards.
Keywords: (Saline soil, Plant - residue - compost, Compost extract, Bio-fertilizer, Humic acid, mineral nitrogen fertilizer, Sesame crop.)
