Effects of Different Proportional Composts of Cattle Manure and Corn Straw on Greenhouse Cucumber

Abstract

Agricultural waste composts as a soil amendment in intensive farming are a feasible practice to improve soil fertility, productivity and resources utilization. However, the best ratio and impact of cattle manure (CM) and corn straw (CS) composting on soil fertility and cucumber growth and yield in greenhouse remain elusive. Using “Jinwang 607” cucumber as test materials, this study compared the effects of seven volume ratios (0:6, 1:5, 2:4, 3:3, 4:2, 5:1, 6:0) composts of CM and CS on soil nutrient content, cucumber growth and yield in greenhouse. The results showed that, seven composts all increased the contents of soil organic matter, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total potassium, alkali-hydrolyzed nitrogen, available phosphorus, available potassium, plant aboveground dry matter accumulation and yield. And the increase in above-mentioned parameters was more prominent in the 4:2 ratio compost treatment compared to other treatments. This treatment effectively reduced risk of soil salinization and acidification, increased soil nutrients content, promoted plant photosynthesis, accumulated more organic matter to transfer to fruits, increased fruit number, and then obtained the highest yield, which was 52213 kg/ha increased by 51.8% compared with the control. Therefore, this suggests that the best volume ratio of CM and CS composting could be 4:2 for improving soil fertility and plant productivity to greenhouse cucumber.