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Sudan Journal of Agricultural Research

A note on the effect of organic fertilizers on the productivity of salt affected soils of Suba area, Sudan

Ahlam E. Ahmed, H. M. Babiker  and N.O. Mukhtar

Abstract:

The influence of organic fertilizers on the productivity of salt affected soils was investigated by conducting three pot experiments in which manure (with groundnut); compost (with sorghum) and blood (with cotton) were tested. The experiments were raised during 1999/2000 season in the green house at the Gezira Research Station and were randomized in RCB design with three replications. The objective was to examine the influence of organic fertilizers on the productivity of groundnut, sorghum and cotton. The organic fertilizers were applied per ha at 20, 30 and 40 ton for the manure, at 10, 20 and 30 ton for the compost and at 11, 22 and 33 thousand liters for blood. These levels were applied to soils brought from the soba area that have different levels of salinity (slightly saline for groundnut, moderately saline for sorghum and strongly saline for cotton) and to a non saline soil. A control was also used in the experiment for both saline and non saline soils. The results showed that under saline soils, the addition of manure to groundnut gave higher values of shoot and root fresh weight, more dry weight of shoot, nodule and pods as well as more pod number. In the non saline soil, the medium and high concentrations of manure resulted in higher shoot and root weight of groundnut compared to the control. Under saline and non saline soils, the application of compost to sorghum at 20, 30 and 40 ton/ ha had less influence on shoot and root fresh and dry weights. Cotton shoot and root fresh and dry weights were increased as the dose of the blood increased, however, the increment was not significant under both normal and saline soils.

 

Sudan Journal of Agricultural Research Vol. 12  (2008) PP. 123-130