Agronomy

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Dear Colleagues,

Soil is an essential resource for plant growth and yield. It undergoes a rapid degradation process in intensive agricultural areas, but it has extremely slow formation and regeneration mechanisms. As a consequence, soils of agroecosystems are severely depleted of organic matter and macro-/micronutrient pools. In addition, the production of urban and industrial organic wastes is increasing worldwide, and environmentally friendly strategies for their disposal, e.g., compost production, have been developed. Furthermore, the application of organic fertilizers could help to mitigate the negative effect of the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide, since they can sequester C into the soil. The necessity of bringing together economic and ecological issues has led to an increase in the use of organic fertilizers worldwide since, in addition to their positive effects on soil chemical, physical, and biological properties, they also improve plant performance.

The aim of this Special Issue is to highlight the effect of different organic amendments on plant performance, soil quality, and the environment. Manuscripts dealing with the effect of organic amendment supply on plant performances, soil chemical, physical, and biological properties, and carbon sequestration will be considered.

Dr. Elena Baldi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 3540 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessment of Inter- and Intraspecific P Efficiency in Forage Legumes as Affected by Recycling Fertiliser

by Yue Hu, Klaus J. Dehmer, Evelin Willner, Veysel Turan and Bettina Eichler-Löbermann

Agronomy 2024, 14(5), 901; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14050901 (registering DOI) - 25 Apr 2024

Viewed by 198

Abstract

Legumes have a high demand for phosphorus (P) due to energetically costly biological nitrogen fixation, but they also have effective physiological and morphological strategies for P mobilization. To evaluate the inter- and intraspecific P efficiency of small-grain legumes supplied with different P recycling fertilisers, eight accessions each of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) and red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) were cultivated in two pot experiments under greenhouse conditions until the flowering stage. To substantiate the results, some accessions were used in both experiments. Five treatments (no P, triple-superphosphate (TSP), sewage sludge ash (SSA), biowaste compost (compost), and struvite) were considered P sources. In addition to plant P uptake, the soil P pools were analysed in detail. Red clover showed higher yields and nutrient uptakes compared to alfalfa, but intraspecific effects were marginal. The addition of P resulted only partly in an increase in yield, despite the low P content in the soil. While struvite application clearly enhanced the P uptake of the plants in both experiments, SSA application had no effect compared to the control. The same treatment effect occurs with the bio-available soil P contents, which were on average 72.6 mg kg⁻¹ after struvite and 44.3 mg kg⁻¹ after SSA addition. Struvite as a P source was especially effective when applied to red clover. Our study aligns with previous field results and underscores the high potential of P mobilization of small-grain legumes without pronounced inter- or intraspecific differences. While struvite is suitable as a P fertiliser, the application of SSA to legumes is not recommended. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Organic Amendments in Agricultural Production—Volume II)

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11 pages, 1363 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enhancement of Soil Organic Carbon, Water Use Efficiency and Maize Yield (Zea mays L.) in Sandy Soil through Organic Amendment (Grass Peat) Incorporation

by Kaiqi Yang, Jian Hu, Yunzhuo Ren, Zhiao Zhang, Mei Tang, Zhenkun Shang, Qing Zhen and Jiyong Zheng

Agronomy 2024, 14(2), 353; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14020353 - 09 Feb 2024

Viewed by 820

Abstract

The efficient use of organic amendment (OM) is considered an economic, environmental and sustainable practice to improve soil quality, especially the accumulation of organic carbon (C) and water use efficiency (WUE) in dryland agriculture. However, the effect of different OM on soil nutrients, organic carbon fractions, water content and maize yield is unclear in arid and semi-arid regions with sandy soil. Field experiments with four OM, grass peat (GP), biochar (BC), organic fertilizer (OF) and maize straw (MS), were conducted with an equivalent amount of C input on the southeastern edge of Mu Us Sandy Land in China. Results indicated that the soil nutrients and labile organic carbon (DOC, MBC, KMnO₄-C and POC) concentrations were higher under OM (GP, BC, OF and MS) treatments than in CK in the 0–0.10 m soil layers. GP treatment remarkably improved carbon pool index values (1.63, 2.51 and 2.24, respectively) in all layers compared to CK (1.00). At maturity stages of maize, the soil water content (SWC) under GP and OF treatments (11.3–13.4%) was remarkably higher than that in CK treatment (around 10.0%). Yield and WUE were remarkably greater in GP and OF treatments compared to CK. The results proved that GP amendment is superior for barren sandy soil than BC, OF and MS treatments in improving soil nutrients, organic carbon sequestration, WUE and crop yield in China. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Organic Amendments in Agricultural Production—Volume II)

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