Animal Manure, Neem Cake, Biochar, Vermicompost or Urea: Choosing the Better Option for Spinacia oleracea Growth and Soil Fertility

Abstract

Production of safe food through organic farming while maintaining soil sustainability is the crucial challenge of recent time. As such a pot experiment was conducted using animal manure (TAM), neem-cake (TNC), vermicompost (TVC), biochar (TBC) and urea (TU) with control (TC) to assess their capacity to stimulate Spinacia oleracea growth under field condition and their impact on soil fertility. Six treatments: TC, TAM, TNC, TVC, TBC, TU with three replications were used in completely randomized design (CRD). All the plant growth parameters were measured at regular interval up to maturity. Complete chemical analysis of plant tissue, amendments and soil was carried out. Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) under different treatments was calculated at 45 and 60 days. All the treatments showed statistically significant (P i.e., plant height with P (R = 0.887); leaf area with N (R = 0.957) and P (R = 0.985); dry weight with N (R = 0.996), P (R = 0.994) and K (R = 0.860). Significant (P < 0.001) increase in post-harvest soil C and CEC content was found with all the treatments. The highest availability of N, P and S was observed under treatment TNC. For short duration crop like spinach, TNC is the best option followed by TVC as they release nutrient quickly than TBC and TAM.