Impact of Different Organic Amendments on Soil Health and Banana Plant Performance

Summary

Purpose
Organic amendments (OAs) from agricultural and livestock residues are usually used to improve soil fertility in crop systems, however, the knowledge of the banana agroecosystem remains limited. The aimed of this study was to evaluate and compare the effect of four OAs commonly used in Canary Islands, on soil health and plant performance.
Methods
A two-year greenhouse experiment was carried out over a complete crop cycle. The treatments included cow manure, chicken manure, compost, pelletised compost, and a non-amended control. Soil chemical properties, microbial activity, plant growth, and plant nutrient content were monitored across the experiment.
Results
All OAs improved soil parameters relative to the control, with differing impacts among treatments. Chicken manure markedly enhanced soil microbial activity (increasing induced respiration and the abundance of bacterial, actinobacterial, and fungal populations), increased phosphorus and electrical conductivity, and reduced pH (by up to 1.5 units). Cow manure increased soil nutrient availability (especially nitrogen and phosphorus) and stimulated basal microbial respiration. Compost promoted fungal abundance and increased total and oxidisable organic matter throughout the crop cycle, whereas pelletised compost showed variable effects. In terms of plant development, chicken and cow manure significantly improved height, biomass, pseudostem circumference, and leaf area. Chicken manure outperformed cow manure in several yield-related parameters, including bunch and hand weight, number of fingers/hand, finger size, and rachis diameter. At harvest, chicken manure also showed the highest uptake of calcium, iron, manganese, nitrogen, potassium, sodium, and zinc.
Conclusions
These results highlight the different effects of each OAs and their specific potential to improve soil biological parameters, nutrient availability, and banana yield as effective tools to enhance agroecosystem sustainability.