ORGANIC ALFALFA PRODUCTION USING DIFFERENT EM.1 COMPOSTS

Organic agricultural production systems are favored as they avoid the soil, air, and water contamination. Cow and poultry manure composts are key sources of fertilizer for organic crop production, but their natural degradation is slow that result in the loss of nitrogen. Therefore, the current study aimed to improve the composting process of cow and poultry manures through the addition of effective microorganisms (EM.1), a different exploitation from its normally intended use. Cow and poultry manures, with (CMEM.1 and PMEM.1) and without (CMplain and PMplain) EM.1 were composted and evaluated for organic alfalfa production. Compost analysis indicated superiority of EM.1 compost over plain compost. Significant (p < 0.05) variation between treatment groups was found for most parameters, including plant height, leaf to stem ratio, fresh and dry forage yields, and mineral (N, P, Ca, B, Mn, Fe, Cu, and Zn) composition. Only nodulation and some mineral compositions (K, Mg, S, Na, Co, and Mo) were not significantly different between treatments. Overall superiority of the treatments was in the order of CMEM.1 > CMplain > PMEM.1 > PMplain. We conclude that EM.1 enhances compost quality and alfalfa crop yield. These findings are hoped to encourage sustainable organic alfalfa production and may be applicable to other crops. Furthermore, the article includes analysis for manures, soil, and alfalfa crops that may be useful as reference.

PDF

___

Page, A. L. 1982. Methods of soil analysis. Part 2. Chemical and microbiological properties. American Society of Agronomy, Soil Science Society of America.
Abusuwar, A.O., I. Daur. 2015. Effect of seed pelleting with organic manures and Rhizobia on the performance of two alfalfa cultivars grown in saline environment, Legume Res. 38 (4): 513-518.
AOAC, 1990. Official methods of analysis. 15th ed. Association of Official Analytical Chemists, Arlington, Virginia, pp. 84- 85.
Badgley, C., J. Moghtadera, E. Quintero, E. Zakem, M. J. Chappell, K. Avilés-Vázquez, A. Samulon, I. Perfecto. 2007. Organic agriculture and the global food supply. Renew. Agr. Food. Syst. 22(2): 86-108.
Bell, T.H., E. Yergeau, C. Maynard, D. Juck, L. G. Whyte, C. W. Greer. 2013. Predictable bacterial composition and hydrocarbon degradation in Arctic soils following diesel and nutrient disturbance. ISME Journal 7: 1200-1210.
Berendsen, R.L., C. M. J. Pieterse, P. A. H. M. Bakker. 2012. The rhizosphere microbiome and plant health, Trends Plant Sci. 17(8): 478-486.
Bhalla, A., N. Bansal, S. Kumar, K. M. Bischoff, R. K. Sani. 2013. Improved lignocellulose conversion to biofuels with thermophilic bacteria and thermostable enzymes, Bioresour. Technol. 128: 751-759.
Blake, G.R., K.H. Hartge. 1986. Bulk density. In Methods of soil analysis (ed. A. Klute), Part 1. 2nd ed. Agron. Monogr. 9. ASA and SSSA, Madison, WI. pp. 363-375.
Boga, C., E.D. Vecchio, L. Forlani, M. Franceschetti. 2014. Microbes to clean indoor pollutants. Environ. Chem. Lett. 12(3): 429-434.
Brito, L. M., I. Mourao, J. Coutinho, S.R. Smith. 2015. Cocomposting of invasive Acacia longifolia with pine bark for horticultural use, Environ. Technol. 36(13): 1632-1642.
Caliskan, S., C. Erdogan, M. Arslan, and M.E. Caliskan. 2013. Comparison of Organic and Traditional Production Systems in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). Turk. J. Field Crops. 18(1): 34-39.
Castellanos-Navarrete, A., P. Tittonell, M.C. Rufino, K.E. Giller. 2015. Feeding, crop residue and manure management for integrated soil fertility management - A case study from Kenya. Agr.l Sys. 134: 24-35.
Daur, I. 2013. Comparative study of farm yard manure and humic acid in integration with inorganic-n on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) growth and yield. Tarim-BilimDerg.-J. of Agric. Sci. 19: 170-177.
Daur, I., A. O. Abusuwar, F. Alghabari. 2015. Exploitation of em.1-treated blend of organic Resources and humic acid for organic berseem (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) production. Turk. J. Field Crops. 20(2): 125-130.
Daur, I., H. Sepetoglu, B. Sindel. 2011. Dynamics of faba bean growth and nutrient uptake and their correlation with grain yield. J. Plant. Nutr. 34: 1360-1371.
Egodawatta, W.C.P., U.R., Sangakkara, P. Stamp. 2012. Impactof green manure and mineral fertilizer inputs on soil organic matter and crop productivity in a sloping landscape of Sri Lanka. Field Crop Res. 129: 21-27.
Feller, C., P. Favre, A. Janka, S. C. Zeeman, J. P. Gabriel, D. Reinhardt. 2015. Mathematical modeling of the dynamics of shoot-root interactions and resource partitioning in plant growth. PLoS ONE. 10(7): e0127905. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0127905.
Gabhane, J., S. P. M. William, R. Bidyadhar, P. Bhilawe, D. Anand, A. Vaidya, N. Wate. 2012. Additives aided composting of green waste: Effects on organic matter degradation, compost maturity, and quality of the finished compost. Bioresour. Technol. 114: 382-388.
Goulding, K., E. Stockdale, C. Watson. 2008. Plant Nutrients in Organic Farming, In "Organic Crop Production - Ambitions and Limitations" (Eds: Lars Bergstrom, Holger Kirchmann), Springer Netherlands. pp 73-88.
Hashim, M.A.A., N. Siam, A. Al-Dosari, K. A. Asl-Gaadi, V. C. Patil, E. H. M. Tola, M. Rangaswamy, M. S. Samdani. 2012. Determination of Water Requirement and Crop water productivity of Crops Grown in the Makkah Region of Saudi Arabia. Aust. J. Basic Appl. Sci. 6(9): 196-206.
Himanen, M., K. Hänninen. 2009. Effect of commercial mineralbased additives on composting and compost quality, Waste Manage. 29: 2265-2273.
Hu, C., Y. Qi. 2013. Long-term effective microorganisms application promote growth and increase yields and nutrition of wheat in China. Eur. J. Agron. 46: 63-67.
Khaliq, A., M. Kaleem Abbasi, T. Hussain. 2006. Effects of integrated use of organic and inorganic nutrient sources with effective microorganisms (EM) on seed cotton yield in Pakistan, Bioresour. Technol. 97(8): 967-972.
Khan, S., M. Afzal, S. Iqbal, Q. M. Khan. 2013. Plant-bacteria partnerships for the remediation of hydrocarbon contaminated soils. Chemosphere 4: 1317-1332.
MWPS-18. 1985. Livestock Waste Facilities Handbook. 2nd Edition Midwest Plan Service (MWPS), Ames, Iowa.
Nelson, D.W., L.E. Sommers. 1996. Total carbon, organic carbon, and organic matter. In: Methods of soil analysis. Part 3. Chemical methods [ed. C. A. Black], Soil Science of America and American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI, USA. pp. 961-1010.
Pei-Sheng, Y., X. Hui-Lian. 2002. Influence of em bokashi on nodulation, physiological characters and yield of peanut innature farming fields, J. Sustain. Agric. 19 (4): 105. doi:10.1300/J064v19n04_10.
Racca, R., D. Basigalup, E. Brenzoni, O. Bruno, C. Castell, D. Collino, J. Dardanelli et. al. 1998. Alfalfa symbiotic dinitrogen fixation in the Argentine Pampean Region. In: North American alfalfa improvement conference, 36, Bozeman, Montana, Proceedings. Bozeman, Montana, p.71.
Rajkovich, S., A. Enders, K. Hanley, C. Hyland, A. R. Zimmerman, J. Lehmann. 2012. Corn growth and nitrogen nutrition after additions of biochars with varying properties to a temperate soil, Biol. Fert. Soils 48(3), 271-284.
Rembia?kowska, E. 2007. Quality of plant products from organic agriculture, J. Sci. Food Agric. 87(15): 2757-2762.
Sanchez-Garcia, M., J. A. Alburquerque, M. A. SanchezMonedero,A. Roig, M. L. Cayuela. 2015. Biochar accelerates organic matter degradation and enhances N mineralisation during composting of poultry manure without a relevant impact on gas emissions, Bioresour. Technol. 192: 272-279.
Schenk, M., C. L. C. Peer, K. Kazan. 2012. Unraveling plant- microbe interactions: can multi-species transcriptomics help? Trends Biotechnol. 30(3): 177-184.
Seufert, V., N. Ramankutty, A. J. Foley. 2012. Comparing the yields of organic and conventional agriculture, Nature 485: 229-232.
Shalaby, E.A. 2011. Prospects of effective microorganisms technology in wastes treatment in Egypt. Asian Pac. J. Trop. Biomed. 1(3): 243-248.
Singh, S., S. Sahoo, S. Dash, S. Nayak. 2014. Association of growth and yield parameters with bioactive phytoconstituents in selection of promising turmeric genotypes, Ind. Crop Prod. 62: 373-379.
Yousefi, J., H. Younesi, S.M. Ghasempoury. 2013. Cocomposting of Municipal Solid Waste with Sawdust: Improving Compost Quality, CLEAN - Soil Air Water. 1(2): 185-194.