Composted manure beats raw manure for salty, tough soils
Chen Q, Niu X, Wu W, Shi H, Liu G
Soil Health
If you garden on soil that crusts white or drains poorly, this shows why letting manure fully compost before it hits your beds makes a measurable difference in fertility, not just tradition or convenience.
Farmers dealing with salty, alkaline soil (the kind that makes it hard for anything to grow) tried adding either raw cattle manure or fully composted manure to see which helped more. The composted version won: it cut soil saltiness in half, boosted organic matter, and shifted the underground microbes toward keeping nitrogen in the soil instead of losing it to the air. That extra nitrogen retention translated into a bigger seed watermelon harvest.
Key Findings
Composted cattle manure (CCM) reduced soil salinity by 51.9% versus 43.0% for raw cattle manure (CM), compared to untreated control soil.
CCM increased abundance of nrf genes (favoring nitrogen retention via DNRA) while decreasing amoA genes (linked to nitrogen-losing nitrification).
Seed watermelon yield was significantly higher under CCM than under raw CM or untreated control soil.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Composting cattle manure before adding it to salty, alkaline farm soil works better than raw manure, cutting soil salinity by over half and boosting watermelon seed yields by helping soil microbes hold onto nitrogen instead of losing it.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Composted cattle manure enhances microbial nitrogen retention and increased seed watermelon yield in saline-alkali soil.
Soil salinity and alkalinity represent a global environmental challenge that severely hampers agricultural productivity. While composted manure amendment represents a sustainable strategy relates t...
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The watermelon is a species of flowering plant in the family Cucurbitaceae, that has a large, edible fruit. It is a scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, and is widely cultivated worldwide, with more than 1,000 varieties.