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Agronomic, Soil Quality and Environmental Consequences of Using Compost in Vegetable Production

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Composting for Sustainable Agriculture

Part of the book series: Sustainable Development and Biodiversity ((SDEB,volume 3))

Abstract

This chapter summarises many of the findings from a long term compost vegetable field experiment at Camden in south western Sydney, Australia. Large applications of garden organics compost resulted in significant improvements to soil quality (physical, chemical and biological) compared to farmer practice. These included soil structural stability, soil carbon, cation exchange capacity, pH and microbial biomass carbon. However, conventional tillage with the rotary hoe eroded away these improvements over time by accelerating the loss of soil carbon and pulverising the soil structure. The compost treatment matched the farmer practice treatment in terms of crop yield for all crops, and exceeded it for some crops. The compost treatment was found to be an economic alternative to farmer practice in the Sydney basin, with additional environmental benefits. Targeted applications of compost and minimum tillage may help optimise benefits. A repeat application of compost resulted in a more significant and sustained response in the soil biology.

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Acknowledgement

The long term compost-vegetable field trial at the Centre for Recycled Organics in Agriculture (CROA) was a joint research and development project of NSW Department of Primary Industries (2005–2013), with collaboration and funding support from NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC) (2005–2008), the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) (2008–2012) and Horticulture Australia Ltd (HAL) (2010–2013). Technical assistance provided by Darren Fahey, Lynette Muirhead, Fadi Saleh, Ildiko Meszaros, and Brett Enman is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wollongbar Primary Industries Institute, NSW Department of Primary Industries, 1243 Bruxner Highway, Wollongbar, NSW, 2477, Australia

    Simon M. Eldridge

  2. Formerly NSW Department of Primary Industries, Richmond, NSW, 2753, Australia

    K. Yin Chan

  3. Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Menangle, NSW, 2568, Australia

    Nerida J. Donovan

Authors
  1. Simon M. Eldridge
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  2. K. Yin Chan
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  3. Nerida J. Donovan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Simon M. Eldridge .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Gurukul Kangri Univ. Dept. of Botany and Microbiology, Haridwar (Uttarakhand), India

    Dinesh K. Maheshwari

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© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Eldridge, S., Chan, K., Donovan, N. (2014). Agronomic, Soil Quality and Environmental Consequences of Using Compost in Vegetable Production. In: Maheshwari, D. (eds) Composting for Sustainable Agriculture. Sustainable Development and Biodiversity, vol 3. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08004-8_7

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