2023 Volume 14 Issue 1 Pages 134-138
Organic nutrient sources are an effective way to improve soil fertility and increase crop yield. Bio-slurry provides tremendous nutrient potential for the vegetative and reproductive growth of field crops and its long-term sustainability. Application of the bio-slurry on the field can help to reduce fertilizer use, maintain productivity, and improve soil health. Soil enzyme activity was enhanced by swine slurry. Enzyme activity following fertilization takes precedence over microbial biomass in the short term. The study aimed (1) to study the effect of bio-slurry and chemical fertilizer on soil enzymes activity, and (2) to compare the biomass growth of corn using bio-slurry and chemical fertilizer. The research was conducted from November to December 2022 at the Throckmorton Plant Sciences Center, Department of Agronomy, Kansas State University, United States. The experiment was conducted in pots under greenhouse conditions with 5 treatments, including Treatment 1: Control (without fertilizer), Treatment 2: bio-slurry, Treatment 3: urea, Treatment 4: NH4NO3 and Treatment 5: KNO3+NaNO3. Each treatment was conducted in 3 replications with 1 pot per replication and 2 seeds per pot. The activities of soil enzymes, biomass of corn above ground and root were collected and analyzed. Corn plants treated with bio-slurry and inorganic fertilizer were found to have a non-significant growth of corn soil β-glucosidase enzyme with 4.41 mg/L, 3.83 mg/L, 4.23 mg/L, 4.11 mg/L, and 4.14 mg/L, respectively. With regard to aboveground and belowground biomass, no significant differences between the control and other treatments were observed. The results showed that bio-slurry released low amounts of enzyme activity to the soil and provided good growth conditions to corn.
