TITLE:
Animal Manure, Neem Cake, Biochar, Vermicompost or Urea: Choosing the Better Option for Spinacia oleracea Growth and Soil Fertility
AUTHORS:
Mst. Ummay Salma, Sonia Hossain
KEYWORDS:
Vermicompost, Neem Cake, Biochar, Spinach, Nitrogen Use Efficiency
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.12 No.8,
August
24,
2021
ABSTRACT: Production of safe food through organic farming
while maintaining soil sustainability is the crucial challenge of recent time.
As such a pot experiment was conducted using animal manure (TAM), neem-cake
(TNC), vermicompost (TVC), biochar (TBC) and urea (TU) with control (TC) to
assess their capacity to stimulate Spinacia oleracea growth under field condition and their impact
on soil fertility. Six treatments: TC, TAM, TNC, TVC, TBC, TU with three
replications were used in completely randomized design (CRD). All the plant
growth parameters were measured at regular interval up to maturity. Complete
chemical analysis of plant tissue, amendments and soil was carried out.
Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) under different treatments was calculated at 45
and 60 days. All the treatments showed statistically significant (P i.e., plant height with P (R = 0.887); leaf area with N (R = 0.957)
and P (R = 0.985); dry weight with N (R = 0.996), P (R = 0.994) and K (R =
0.860). Significant (P