Manure properties, soil conditions and managerial factors regulate greenhouse vegetable yield with organic fertilizer application across China

Abstract

To better understand the responses of vegetable yields in a greenhouse system to organic fertilizer through a quantitative evaluation based on peer-reviewed journal articles and in consideration of environmental managerial factors. We conducted a meta-analysis of 453 paired observations from 68 peer-reviewed journal articles to assess the response of vegetable yields in greenhouse vegetable systems in China to organic fertilization. Compared with the control (no organic fertilizer), organic fertilization significantly increased the yields of vegetables by 44.11% on average. The response of vegetable yields to organic fertilizer tended to increase with the increasing experimental duration. Organic fertilizer application had the greatest potential for leafy vegetables (+76.44%), in loamy soils (+53.94%), at moderate organic fertilizer carbon input levels (+54.13%), and in soils with moderate initial soil total nitrogen levels (+50.89%). Aggregated boosted tree analysis indicated that organic fertilizer carbon inputs, vegetable type and experimental duration were the predominant factors that manipulated the response of vegetable yields to organic fertilizer application. The rational application of farmyard manure would be a promising strategy for increasing vegetable yields in greenhouse vegetable systems in China. Factoring in vegetable type, carbon and nitrogen inputs of organic fertilizer, and soil texture would benefit vegetable yields with the application of organic fertilizer.

Effects of Bio-Organic Fertilizer on Soil Infiltration, Water Distribution, and Leaching Loss under Muddy Water Irrigation Conditions

“…Bio-organic fertilizer can effectively improve soil structure, soil water and fertilizer retention capacity, and crop water and fertilizer use efficiency and yield, in addition to increasing soil water storage [31][32][33]. This study found that the application of bio-organic fertilizer could also reduce water transport rate due to bio-organic fertilizer containing a large amount of organic matter, which infiltrated the soil mass, made it hydrophobic, weakened the soil wetting process and the movement speed of capillary water, slowed down the downward movement speed of water in the soil, prolonged water residence time in the soil, and increased the water-holding capacity of the soil [34].…”

Long-term cattle manure addition enhances soil-available phosphorus fractions in subtropical open-field rotated vegetable systems

“…Furthermore, the vegetable yields of both M and M+CF treatments increased with manure application; however, manure application was more conducive to an increased leafy and fruity vegetable yield in contrast to stem vegetables. This is due to the former having shallow root systems and a low root density, which enables them to easily assimilate as much available P as possible at the topsoil level ( Xiang et al., 2022 ). These results agree with the findings of our study, namely that cabbage was more sensitive to manure application than lettuce, whereas cabbage yield and PUE were both enhanced compared with lettuce ( Figure 6 , Table 3 ).…”

Effects of Manure-Based Nitrogen Substitution for Chemical Nitrogen Fertilizers on Economic Benefits and Water-Use Efficiency of Maize

“…Soil porosity is one of the main factors affecting soil water evaporation capacity, and the large number of pores can promote the continuity of water rising movement [26]. Also, bio-organic fertilizer can improve soil water and fertilizer retention capacity by improving soil structure and achieving the effect of improving crop water and fertilizer use efficiency and yield [27,28]. In this study, the M 75 treatment resulted in higher soil water storage and lower evapotranspiration in the first two fertilization years; meanwhile, the same treatment resulted in lower soil water storage and higher evapotranspiration in the third and fourth fertilization years.…”