Department of Plant Production, Bardsir Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman
Review:
Cover crops, conservation tillage systems and organic fertilizers play an important role in maintaining or increasing soil quality. In order to evaluate the combined effects of these techniques on soil quality, experimental plots were administered as split plots in a randomized complete block design with three replications in the 2012-2013 crop year at the research farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Bahonar University, Kerman. How to return cover plants to the soil include: Low tillage (disc) and non-tillage (glyphosate herbicide + cuttings) as the main factor and fertilizer management of cover crops including: Cover crops (wheat, rapeseed and chickpeas) without nitrogen fertilizer, with 25 tons per hectare of livestock manure, 75 kg of urea fertilizer and fallow treatment were the secondary factors. The results showed that the highest yield of nitrogen, phosphorus and biomass of cover crops belonged to wheat treatment with urea fertilizer. Soil properties including bulk density, acidity, soil organic matter, nutrient concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus in the soil were affected by fertilizer management and cover crops (excluding pH) and the amount of organic matter and soil nutrient concentrations were affected by their interaction. In the treatment of wheat cover plant with urea fertilizer, 27.53% decrease in apparent density, 20.88% increase in porosity, organic matter 2.4 times and nitrogen 1.5 times compared to fallow treatment was the best treatment with a significant difference with plant treatment. Wheat cover with livestock manure did not have low tillage treatment and the highest amount of phosphorus belonged to wheat cover plant with livestock manure which was 3.5 times the concentration of phosphorus in fallow treatment. Therefore, in order to sustainably develop agriculture, reduce the use of chemical fertilizers and preserve the environment, wheat cover crop treatment with the use of livestock manure will be appropriate to return low tillage in Kerman.
