Acta Agriculturae Slovenica (Dec 2001)
Comparison of fertilisation with organic or mineral fertilisers in a three year vegetable crop rotation
Abstract
In a 3-years field trial, 6 vegetable crops (cabbage, spinach, lettuce, fennel, onion, Chinese cabbage) were grown, supplied with different fertilisers: farm yard manure (FYM), compost of hens' droppings, shredded wood and bark (COMP), and mineral fertiliser with one (NPK-2) or two applications (NPK-1) of nitrogen during the growing season of the crop. The amount of added nitrogen was adjusted in all plots, except with the control plot (?), where no fertilisers were applied. The experimental field was located in Ljubljana, on ameliorated alluvial brown clay loam. Soil taken from different layers was 17 times sampled and analysed for soil mineral N (SMN) Yields of crops and their components were determined. They were evaluated upon visual appearance (market quality), and storage ability. The whole yield produced in 3 years on plots fertilised with inorganic fertilisers was almost twice as high as with COMP and 40% higher compared to FYM. In the first year, N was immobilised with COMP. N recovery during the entire trial was only 8% with COMP, 37% with FYM, 65% with NPK-2 and 81% with NPK-1. Cabbage contained higher dry matter content (DM) when fertilised with compost. However, the percentage of dry matter did not significantly differ in crops grown in the 2nd and 3rd year. In despite of lower DM, cabbage and Chinese cabbage formed harder heads with NPK treatments. There was no difference within treatments in the storage ability of onion.
