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Decomposition and nutrient release of green manure biomass in a passion fruit orchard in the brazilian semiarid region

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Abstract

Green manure decomposition and nutrient recycling improve soil quality and productivity of different crops, but information on irrigated fruit orchards in the Brazilian semi-arid region is still scarce. Decomposition and nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium release from the cut biomass of three green manure legumes (sunn hemp, pigeon pea and jack bean) placed in litterbags, and spontaneous vegetation grown for 90 days in the rows of a passion fruit orchard were followed for 150 days. Biomasses decreased exponentially, reaching 12 (sunn hemp) to 25% (jack beans and spontaneous vegetation) after 150 days. K was rapidly released (< 21 and 4% of the original content remaining after 7 and 150 days, respectively), contrasting with more than half of the P and one third of the N remaining after 150 days. The amounts released were more influenced by the amounts of biomass produced (sunn hemp, 1583); (Jack bean 5152 kg ha-1); (Pigeon pea 822 kg ha-1); (Spontaneous plants 3175 kg ha-1); (spontaneous legumes 744 kg ha-1) than by variation in decomposition proportions among species. N release represented a liquid input to the soil, since more than 80% of the green manure and spontaneous vegetation contents came from N2-symbiotic fixation. Therefore, green manure is an effective technique to incorporate N and recycle K and P in irrigated orchards in the Brazilian semi-arid region.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the collaboration of beekeepers.

Funding

This work was funded by the Brazilian Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq; Projetos Universal 2018, Grant Number 426655/2018-4 and by the Rede de Pesquisa para o Desenvolvimento de Tecnologias Utilizando Aporte de N Atmosférico, Nanobiofertilizantes e Remineralizadores para Produção Agrícola de Baixo Carbono no Semiárido Brasileiro (Grant Number: 406073/2022-8). This work is part of the National Observatory of Water and Carbon Dynamics in the Caatinga Biome - NOWCDCB, supported by the Fundação de Amparo à Ciência e Tecnologia de Pernambuco (FACEPE; APQ-0498-3.07/17 ONDACBC), CNPq (grants: 441305/2017-2; 465764/2014-2), and CAPES (grants: 88887.136369/2017-00).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Energia Nuclear, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Avenida Professor Luiz Freire, 1000, 50740-545, Cidade Universitária, Recife, PE, Brasil

    Edilândia Farias Dantas, Jéssica Rafaella de Sousa Oliveira, Barbara Laine Ribeiro da Silva & Everardo Valadares de Sá Barretto Sampaio

  2. Departamento de Agronomia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Avenida Dom Manoel de Medeiros, s/n, 52171-900, Dois Irmãos, Recife, PE, Brasil

    Ana Dolores Santiago de Freitas, Carolina Etienne de Rosáliae Silva Santos & Augusto Cesar de Arruda Santana

  3. Instituto Federal de Educação Ciência e Tecnologia de Pernambuco, Avenida Sebastião Rodrigues da Costa, s/n, 55145-065, São Pedro, Belo Jardim, PE, Brasil

    Rosemberg de Vasconcelos Bezerra

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  1. Edilândia Farias Dantas
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  2. Ana Dolores Santiago de Freitas
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  3. Carolina Etienne de Rosáliae Silva Santos
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  4. Augusto Cesar de Arruda Santana
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  5. Jéssica Rafaella de Sousa Oliveira
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  6. Barbara Laine Ribeiro da Silva
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  8. Everardo Valadares de Sá Barretto Sampaio
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Contributions

Conceptualization: Edilândia Farias Dantas, Ana Dolores Santiago de Freitas, Carolina Etienne de Rosália, Augusto Cesar de Arruda Santana e Silva Santos and Rosemberg de Vasconcelos Bezerra wrote the original project and performed the field experiment. Jéssica Rafaella de Sousa Oliveira and Barbara Laine Ribeiro da Silva performed the laboratory analyses; Everardo Valadares de Sá Barretto Sampaio, Edilândia Farias Dantas and Ana Dolores Santiago de Freitas wrote the original draft text. All authors read, reviewed, and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ana Dolores Santiago de Freitas.

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Dantas, E.F., de Freitas, A.D.S., de Rosáliae Silva Santos, C.E. et al. Decomposition and nutrient release of green manure biomass in a passion fruit orchard in the brazilian semiarid region. Environ Monit Assess 195, 1131 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-11772-y

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