The effect of using of different levels of biological, chemical and manuare fertilizers on macro elements and some quantitative traits of forage cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica L.)

The forage cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica) belongs to the Cactaceae family, which is a xerophyte plant with a rapid growth rate and is well adapted to arid climates. This cactus, which is also known as prickly pear or rocket cactus, although it produces high yields in fertile soils with sufficient water, but also produces significantly in poor soils with low water levels. Since nutrients such as nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus and potassium are very important in the diet of livestock. In this experiment, the nutritional value of this plant was investigated by evaluating these elements in forage cactus. The importance of producing fodder plants and improving their quality under the influence of nitrogen and manure fertilizers, this research with a sustainable agriculture approach to investigate the effect of different proportions of organic and chemical fertilizers especially nitrogen and their interaction on the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of forage cactus were done.

To investigate the effect of using biological, chemical and manure fertilizers on Separate and integrated tests were carried out on some forage cactus traits during two cropping years (2019 and 2020). The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the effect of these fertilizers on the percentage of nutrients and some quantitative characteristics of forage cactus in the form of a factorial experiment in the form of a randomized complete block design in three replications and the factors including biofertilizer treatments: MY1: use of mycorrhiza and MY0: no use of mycorrhiza and four levels of manure, respectively: M0: no use of manure, M1: use of 10 tons per hectare of manure, M2: use of 20 tons per hectare of manure, M3: use of 30 tons per hectare of manure and four levels of nitrogen chemical fertilizer (urea), respectively, including treatments N0: no use of urea, N1: use of 100 kilograms per hectare of urea, N2: use of 200 kilograms per hectare of urea, N3: use of 300 kilograms per hectare of urea and the treatment of not using mycorrhizal biofertilizer; Urea chemical fertilizer and manure were used as control treatments. The distance between rows was 50 cm and between rows was 50 cm. A distance of 1.5 meters between plots and 3 meters between repetitions was created to create an irrigation stream and a waste water outlet stream. The size of each plot was 6 square meters (4 × 1.5) with 4 crop lines and the plant density was 3.33 per square meter. The main pad for planting was prepared from a three-year base and was prepared and transferred from the research farm affiliated with ICARDA (International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas) in Mehran city, belonging to the Agricultural Research Center of Ilam province.
The measured traits were as follows:Pad length, pad width, wet yield, dry yield, total pad number, nitrogen percentage, phosphorus percentage, potassium percentage and calcium percentage.

The results showed that the highest fresh forage yield and dry forage yield were obtained in the treatment of combined use of M3N3 in comparison with the control treatment (no use of fertilizer) with the lowest amount. The mentioned treatment improved the fresh forage yield and dry forage yield by approximately 81.61% and 75%, respectively, compared to the control treatment. The best results after this treatment are in the combined M3N2, M2N3 and M2N2 obtained. The traits of Ca percentage, P percentage, K percentage, N percentage, the total number of pad and the length and width of each pad showed favorable results in the integrated application of manure and nitrogen, and the integrated application of manure and chemical was significant on all the experimental traits.

The results of this research showed that the effect of using mycorrhizal biofertilizer was effective only on the amount of phosphorus and on other measured traits. It was not significant and because no significant difference was observed between treatments using mycorrhiza and not using it; because the cactus plant is perennial, it is recommended that the study regarding the use of mycorrhizal fungi and the process of quantitative and qualitative changes of this plant be further investigated in multi-year and long-term supplementary experiments.