Garden Egg (<i>Solanum melongena</i> L.) Performance under Different Sources of Animal Manure as a Sustainable Alternative Fertilizer for Farmers

Abstract

To ensure food security, continuous intensive farming systems with limited fallowing periods and other farming systems like crop rotation have led to poor soil health with extremely low organic matter, especially in tropical regions with high organic matter mineralization. Small-scale farmers in developing countries cannot afford intensive agricultural systems with heavy chemical inputs, which have not improved soil health. Inorganic fertilizers are harmful to the environment, so farmers should use cheap, locally available organic fertilizers like animal manure, which supports organic agricultural systems and soil health. Animal manure is used as a soil amendment to improve soil health, fertility, and crop yields, but data on how different manures affect specific crops is scarce. Poultry, cattle, and goat manure were compared to no fertilizer and mineral fertilizer on garden egg phenology, vegetative growth, and yield. Poultry manure improved garden egg vegetative growth, phenology, yield, and yield components compared to the negative control and the other treatments. Poultry manure yielded the most fruit at 0.921 kg•ha −1 , followed by cattle and goat manure at 0.709 kg•ha −1 and 0.698 kg•ha −1 . In conclusion, poultry manure may be a better alternative to synthetic NPK with yield performance similar to garden eggs and long-term soil health benefits similar to other manure sources.

Fishpond Water Potential on Vineyard Soil Health: An Exploratory Study of a Circular System

“…Animal waste products can also be incorporated into crop production systems as farm inputs, providing a nitrogen source with additional benefits such as improved soil structure, water holding capacity, and soil carbon, as well as the activity of beneficial microorganisms in the soil [17]. The proper management of all nitrogen sources is key to minimizing leaching into drinking water aquifers, whereas organic sources of fertilizers such as manure, plant waste material, and compost are challenging to manage well due to their slow and unpredicted release [18,19]. Also, the processing, handling, and transportation of manures has been a major limitation, but the concept of the "manure shed" (which has been identified as a major solution to the logistic problem of transporting manure) can be advantageous if maximized [20].…”