Effects of Green Manure Managment and Fertilization Treatments on the Chemical and Physical Properties and Fertility of Soil

Cover crops, conservation tillage systems and organic fertilizers have played an important role in maintaining or enhancing soil quality. In order to assess the combined effects of these techniques on soil quality an experiment was conducted as experiment based on randomized complete block design with three replications at Agricultural Research Station Bahonar University in 2011-2012.
Method of return cover crops to soil were included reduced tillage (disc) and no-till (herbicide glyphosate cutting) as the main factor and manure application management were included cover crops (wheat, canola and peas) without the use of urea, cover crops with a consumption of 25 t/ha of manure, Cover crop with 75 kg of urea and fallow treatments (without cover crop) as subplots. The results showed that the highest concentration of nutrients (except N and P concentrations in the plant), the nutrient yield and biomass of cover crops belonged to wheat treated with urea fertilizer. Soil properties such as bulk density, pH, organic matter and soil nutrient concentrations (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) were significantly affected by fertilizer management and method of return cover crops to soil (except pH) and soil organic matter content and nutrient concentration were affected by their interactions. In wheat cover crop treatments with urea with%27.53 reduction in bulk density, %20.88 increase in the porosity, organic matter 2.4 times and nitrogen 1.5 times compared to the fallow treatment was the best treatment that wasn’t significantly different with wheat treated by manure in low- tillage system. Wheat treated by manure had the highest phosphorus that was was 3.5 times the phosphorus concentration in the fallow treatment. So in order to develop sustainable agriculture, reducing the use of synthetic fertilizers and environmental protection, the wheat cover crop treatments with manure consuming and low- tillage cropping systems would be appropriate in Kerman.