Effect of fertilizers from meat bone meal with biostimulants on soil physicochemical properties

Abstract

Organic fertilizers improve soil properties, increase humus and organic carbon reserves and make the soil more fertile. Meat and bone meal is a by-product of the meat processing industry and is increasingly used as an organic fertilizer. Granulated meat and bone meal may contain 75% or more organic matter. This fertilizer contains important nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and other elements which are vital for agricultural crops. Moreover, organics fertilizers play a particularly important role in reducing the consumption of mineral fertilizers in agricultural production. This work investigated the effect of granulated meat and bone meal (MBM) treated with biostimulants on soil physicochemical properties growing pak choy (Brassica rapa var. Chinensis). Parallel experiments were conducted without growing plants, just adding MBM and biostimulants to the growing media in the pots, according to the experimental design. Experiment was carried in greenhouse pot experiments in Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy. Plants were grown in growing media (soil substrate) – soil was taken from Experimental Station fields. Growing media properties: neutral – pH 6.70, high phosphorus content – 213–318 mg kg-1 P2O5, moderate potassium content – 103–125 mg kg-1 K2O, humus content 1.57–1.86%. Experimental treatments were: 1) granulated meat and bone meal MBM (control), 2) Bio1 (granulated MBM with biostimulant 1 used for soil improvement), 3) Bio2 (granulated MBM with biostimulant 2 for composting improvement). Observations were carried out in three stages: 1, 2.5, and 3 months after sowing. The experiment was carried out in four replications. It was found, that granulated meat and bone meal (MBM) treated with biostimulants significantly (P <0.05) reduced the total nitrogen content in the growing media at all stages of the study and tended to decrease the total phosphorus content. The biostimulant Bio2 significantly (P <0.05) reduced the total potassium content in the growing media at all stages of the study. The electrical conductivity of the growing media was significantly (P < 0.05) lower in the growing containers with pak choy compared to those without plants and was not associated with the use of biostimulants.