Introduction

The long-term overcropping and overuse of inorganic fertilizers without organic input degrade soil quality and health and cause environmental pollution as well (Albiach et al. 2000). Decreasing soil quality can be avoided by proper and careful soil management as practiced by organic farmers. The application of organic fertilizer is an important practice in organic farming to improve soil quality, enhance microbial activity and nutrient recycle to produce high-quality crops. Thus, organic farming system produces healthy plant (Knapp et al. 2010; Dimitri et al. 2012). Increase in microbial biomass activity also results changes in soil enzymes that play an important role in soil biochemical reactions (Garcia-Gil et al. 2000; Ros et al. 2006). Organic matter input into the soil gives a long-term positive effect due to humus production that can increase the soil cation exchange capacity and water retention (Weber et al. 2007).

One of the organic fertilizers often used by organic farmers is vermicompost. Vermicompost is a compost produced by earthworm activity. During the vermicomposting process, earthworms play an important role in degrading organic materials. This process gradually decreases C:N ratio and increases the surface area of organic matter, hence making it easier for microorganisms to decompose it. Castings produced by earthworms will be biochemically decomposed by microorganisms (Domínguez et al. 2010). Vermicompost is widely used in the cultivation of horticultural crops. Vermicompost has an extensive potential for use on agricultural crops to replace or, alternatively, combine with inorganic fertilizers. The yield of some horticultural crops on treatment using vermicompost and inorganic fertilizers was not significantly different, but the quality of yield was higher than that of the inorganic fertilizers (Nurhidayati et al. 2015, 2016). Other researchers have evaluated the effects of vermicompost on the growth of other plants through various greenhouse and field studies. Vermicompost have a positive effect on physicochemical properties of soil hence improving growth and yield of tomato (Atiyeh et al. 2000a, b; Atiyeh et al. 2001; Hashemimajd et al. 2004; Gutiérrez-Miceli et al. 2007). Application of vermicomposts to the soil also increased soil humic and plant growth hormone hence enhanced the growth and yield of pepper (Arancon et al. 2004a, 2005). Soil improvement with vermicompost can increase growth and yield of the other crops such as garlic (Argüello et al. 2006), aubergine (Gajalakshmi and Abbasi 2004), strawberry (Arancon et al. 2004b), and sweet corn (Lazcano et al. 2011). The combined effects of vermicompost and vermiwash can also increase the yield of organic linseed crop (Makkar et al. 2017). The improvement of soil physicochemical and the addition of plant growth substances in the soil stimulated the development of roots and growth of shoots and plant leaf area (Edwards et al. 2004; Lazcano et al. 2009). Roy et al. (2010) showed that the plots using vermicompost treatment had higher plant height, shoot and root weight as compared to compost or soil plots.

Vermicompost is a natural organic fertilizer product by earthworm. It releases the nutrients gradually into the soil (Chaoui et al. 2003). Therefore, it has the residual effect on the succeeding plant. Jat and Ahlawat (2006) reported that vermicompost application enhanced soil nutrient status (N and P) in subsequent crops compared to no vermicompost application. However, the residual value was determined by the vermicompost quality and the application rate. The effect of vermicompost on plants was different. It is dependent on crop species and genotype (Lazcano et al. 2011). Nutrient dynamics in the soil and the availability of nutrients in the soil, especially the total N and P available in the soil due to vermicompost applications have been studied by Jat and Ahlawat (2006) on chickpea–maize cropping system. Where the dynamics of nutrient availability in soil and nutrient uptake in vermicompost application after chickpea increased and decreased after maize. However, little is known about the direct and residual effects of various vermicompost on one plant species with several planting periods associated with soil nutrient, nutrient uptake dynamics and crop yields. The main aim of this study was to determine the direct and residual effects of various vermicompost with different rates on soil nutrient, nutrient uptake dynamics and productivity of mustard Pak-Coi for four planting periods.

Materials and methods

Study site and soil characteristics

This study was a field experiment conducted at Landungsari village, Dau district, Malang regency in March–July 2017 with an altitude of 544 m above sea level, 07°55′42.1″S latitude, and 112°35′55.0″E longitude. The average temperature was 22–28 °C while the rainfall is 1750 mm/year. The field had a semi-technical irrigation system. The type of soil was an Inceptisol. The soil characteristic was silty clay comprising 46% clay, 46% silt, and 8% sand. The soil had bulk density of 1.23 g cm−3. The soil was low in organic carbon (0,96%), with pH 5.7, low in total N (0.15%), high in phosphorus (228.26 mg kg−1), and low in available K(0.33 cmol kg−1 soil).

Vermicompost preparation

Making of vermicompost was done in vermicomposting bin having a size of 80 × 120 × 30 cm. Materials used in making of the vermicompost were the spent mushroom waste, coconut husk, sugar cane trash, cow dung, dry leaf litter, and fresh vegetable waste. The vegetable wastes were collected from the traditional market and were cut into the size of vegetable wastes pieces of ± 5 cm. The dry leaf litter and sugar cane trash were grounded by a grinder. The spent mushroom waste, coconut husk and sugarcane trash served as bedding materials, while the mixture of cow dung, leaf litter and the vegetable waste were used as worm feeds. The amount of material needed to fill the bin was 40 kg of bedding materials and 20 kg of worm feed. This amount was adapted to the capacity of the worm to decompose organic matter on a daily basis. Vermicomposting process lasted for 28 days using the earthworm species, Lumbricus rubellus. Thereafter, composting was done for 14 days. The vermicompost is also added with fish meal and eggshell flour with a composition of 5% as the additive materials. The addition of eggshell flour and fish meal was done after vermicomposting process. During the vermicomposting process, moisture content was maintained at 80%. The vermicomposting bin is covered with a black cloth to avoid the sun. The chemical compositions of the resulting vermicomposts were analyzed (Table 1).

Table 1 Chemical compositions of three kinds of vermicompost on dry weight basis
Full size table

Experimental design

This experiment used a factorial randomized block design (RBD) which consisted of two factors. Factor I comprised three kinds of vermicompost (V) with three different bedding materials; V1: mixture of spent mushroom waste, cow dung, vegetable waste, and leaf litter, V2: mixture of coconut husk, cow dung, vegetable waste and leaf litter, and V3: sugarcane trash, cow dung, vegetable waste and leaf litter. Factor II comprised 4 different rates of vermicompost application: D1 = 5 t ha−1, D2 = 10 t ha−1, D3 = 15 t ha−1, and D4 = 20 t ha−1. From these two factors, there were 12 treatment combinations plus one control treatment (without vermicompost application). Each treatment was replicated 3 times to obtain 39 units of experimental plot, and each experimental plot had 5 samples of the observed plants.

Experimental procedures

Pak-Coi mustard seeds were planted in the medium mixture of cow dung and soil with a ratio of 1:1. This seedling takes 3 weeks (21 days) to be ready for transplanting. Land preparation was done by tilling the soil with a hoe and then making a bed of 2.5 m × 1.5 m. All experimental plots received the application of cow dung with a rate of 5 t ha−1. Three kinds of vermicompost were weighed in accordance with the application rate. Then, the vermicompost was incorporated into the well-prepared beds evenly using the hoe 1 week before planting. Mustard seedlings were planted at a spacing of 20 cm × 20 cm, 21 days after seeding and a week after vermicompost application. Watering and manual weeding was done. The mustard was harvested 28 days after transplanting. After harvesting the first crop of mustard, the land was cleared for 1 week and planting the second crop of mustard and so on for up to the fourth mustard cropping, to test the residual effects on the second, third and fourth cropping. The observed variables were soil nutrient, nutrient uptake, fresh and dry weights of total biomass, and weight of marketable yield for the fourth mustard cropping period.

The nitrogen (N) content in leaves of these crops was measured using modified Kjeldahl’s method (Jackson 1973). The P content was calculated by vanado-molybdo-phosphoric acid yellow colour method (Jackson 1973) and the K content was measured with a flame photometer. The N, P and K content in leaves was multiplied with the respective dry matter of total biomass to get N, P and K uptake in crop. The soil samples from the experimental plots were analyzed for total N (modified Kjeldahl’s method, Jackson 1973) and available-P (Bray I method, Jackson 1973) and extractable-K content (flame photometer) at 2 weeks after transplanting during the first mustard cropping and after harvesting the first, second and the third mustard cropping.

Statistical analysis

The collected data were statistically confirmed using analysis of variance (F Test) at P ≤ 0.05 and the differences between each treatment were determined by Tukey test (P ≤ 0.05) using Minitab Version 14.12. Dunnett’s test at 5% level was used to compare all treatments with control. For statistical analysis of data, Microsoft Excel was used.

Results and discussion

Soil nutrient content

Based on the results of the analysis of variance at P = 5%, variables of the soil nutrients content at the fourth soil sampling showed that the tested treatment significantly (P < 0.05) influenced the soil nutrient content of soil. The soil nutrient dynamics of each treatment on the fourth soil sampling is presented in Fig. 1. The dynamics of N and K nutrients in soils up to the fourth soil sampling had a similar pattern, where the increased availability of N and K occurs on the second soil sampling (after harvesting mustard 1). On the third and fourth soil sampling, soil N and K decreased (Fig. 1a, c). Nutrient dynamics of P in soils differ from N and K, where the highest P nutrient availability was found in the first soil sampling (2 weeks after transplanting). The succeeding soil sampling P tended to decrease (Fig. 1b).

Fig. 1
figure 1

The dynamics of soil N, P and K nutrient (a–c) due to direct and residual effect of three kinds of vermicompost on various application rates and the fourth soil sampling. (remarks: V1, V2, and V3 = kind of vermicompost, D1, D2, D3, and D4 = application rate (5, 10, 15, and 20 t ha−1), (1), (2), (3), and (4) = time of soil sampling)

Full size image

Figure 1a also illustrated that the direct effects of application of three vermicompost treatments, on soil N was found highest in vermicomposts V2 and V3 at application rates of 15–20 t ha−1. On the second and third soil sampling (after harvesting mustard 1 and 2) the same pattern of nutrient availability was still observed. However, at the fourth soil sampling (after harvesting mustard 3), the soil nutrients in the plots treated with vermicompost V3 at an application rate of 20 t ha−1 were higher than the other treatments. This suggests that the different bedding materials affected the release of nutrients into the soil. Bedding derived from the spent mushroom waste had the highest lignin content providing a low nutrient release although the vermicompost had a high P content. Vermicompost V2 and V3 had a higher soil N content than V1. Thus, it released a higher N (Fig. 1b).

The highest soil N and K were found in the second soil sampling (after harvesting mustard 1), while the highest soil P was found at the first soil sampling (2 weeks after transplanting). In the next soil sampling, the soil P content decreased until the fourth soil sampling. The highest soil K was found on the plot treated with vermicompost V2. Vermicompost V2 contains bedding derived from coconut husk that has the highest K content. The chemical composition of vermicompost V2 had the highest K content (Table 1).

The dynamics of nutrient release for the fourth mustard cropping showed different patterns due to the application of three kinds of vermicompost. These results indicated that nutrient release is influenced by nutrient content in vermicompost. Yadav et al. (2010) showed that the characteristics of the raw material of vermicompost influenced the quality of vermicompost such as the total nutrient contents. Vermicompost V2 and V3 showed the highest nutrient availability especially N and K content on the second soil sampling. While vermicompost V3 still showed the highest N nutrient availability on the last soil sampling. Vermicompost V3 contained bedding derived from sugarcane trash which has a high N and the lowest lignin content (Table 1), which can increase the availability of N in the soil, while Vermicompost V1 contained the highest lignin. Differences in chemical composition of raw materials of organic matters such as organic-C, total N and lignin content as well as C:N and Lignin:N ratio affected the rate of decomposition and release of nutrients into the soil (Wardle et al. 2009; Moore et al. 2011).

De Araújo et al. (2010)reported that organic materials are mostly composed of carbon. The release of nutrient vermicompost was determined by the carbon quality and C:N ratio of the organic matters used. Thus, C:N ratio was an indicator of vermicompost maturity (Pattnaik and Reddy 2010). In addition to C:N ratio, the lignin content of organic matter affected the dynamics of N in the soil. Lignin was one of the most slowly decomposing components (Rahman et al. 2013). The three kinds of vermicompost had a C/N ratio < 20. This suggested that vermicomposts have high maturity and stability. An organic material with C:N ratio < 20 will be mineralized in soil releasing nutrients that can be absorbed by the plant. Among the three kinds of vermicompost, vermicompost V2 (bedding derived from coconut husk) had the highest C/N ratio of 15.22. Vermicompost V2 has the highest K content, because the coconut husk has a high K content.

Plant nutrient uptake

N, P and K uptake of the first mustard cropping was directly affected by three vermicompost applications, where vermicompost V1 and V2 provided the highest N uptake at an application rate of 10 t ha−1, while the residual effect on the second plant, the highest N uptake was found in vermicompost V2 with application rate of 20 t ha−1. Residual effects on the third and fourth mustards, vermicompost V2 and V3 at application rates of 15–20 t ha−1 gave the highest N uptake (Table 2).

Table 2 Nutrient uptake of the first, second, third, and fourth mustard cropping as influenced by direct and residual effect of three kinds of vermicompost at various application rate
Full size table

The P uptake of mustard was not influenced by the direct effects of three vermicompost applications. However, the different rate significantly affect P uptake of the mustard where the highest P uptake was found at an application rate of 10 t ha−1. The residual effect of three kinds of vermicompost on the P uptake of the second mustard was found on the plot treated with vermicompost V1 at application rates of 15–20 t ha−1, while on the third and fourth mustard cropping, the highest P uptake was found in vermicompost 3 with an application rate of 15–20 t ha− 1 (Table 2).

K uptake of the first mustard cropping was influenced by the direct effects of three vermicompost applications where the vermicompost V2 provided the highest K uptake at an application rate of 10–15 t ha−1. The highest residual effect of the three kinds of vermicompost on K uptake of the second mustard was found in vermicompost V1 with application rate of 15–20 t ha−1, while the highest residual effect on the third and fourth mustard was found in the plot treated with vermicompost V3 with application rate of 15–20 t ha−1. These results demonstrated that the vermicompost derived from bedding of sugarcane trash gave the best residual effect on nutrient uptake until the fourth mustard cropping (Table 2).

Plant nutrient uptake highly depends on the nutrient release from the soil solid phase in the form of mineral and organic materials to the soil solution. The release of nutrients from organic matter occurs biochemically through the balance of mineralization and immobilization processes, while from mineral materials occurs physicochemically through adsorption and desorption, and precipitation and dissolution. The mineralization controls the soil solution concentration directly when the soil mineral does not release nutrient into the soil solution (Comerford 2005). Vermicompost as an organic fertilizer also undergoes mineralization releasing nutrients into the soil solution. The three kinds of vermicompost used in this study had a C/N ratio < 20. Thus, the vermicomposts had a high mineralization rate. Chaoui et al. (2003) reported that the vermicompost had a lower C/N ratio and indicated that it is more suitable for use as a soil amendment. It is due to the high NH4+ content released and converted into NO3− through the nitrification process during vermicomposting (Prabha 2009). Vermicompost contains high available nutrients, allowing not only a short supply of plant nutrient but also increasing reserves for the succeeding crops (Jat and Ahlawat 2006).

Crop yield

The fresh weight of total biomass differed significantly (P < 0.05) between the tested treatment combinations from either the direct effect for the first mustard cropping or the residual effect for the second, third and fourth mustard cropping (Table 3). The plots treated with vermicompost V2 at a rate of 10 t ha−1 had higher fresh weight of total biomass and weight of marketable yield than the other treatments though not significantly different with the treatment of vermicompost V1 at a rate 10–15 t ha−1 for direct effect of vermicompost (Tables 3 and 4). For the second mustard cropping, the treatments with vermicompost V1 at the rate of 10–20 t ha−1 significantly had the highest yield, but not significantly different with the vermicompost V3 at the rate of 20 t ha−1. For the third mustard cropping, the treatments with vermicompost V3 at the rate of 15–20 t ha−1 significantly had the highest yield, but not significantly different with the vermicompost V1 at the rate of 20 t ha−1. The fourth mustard cropping treated by vermicompost V3 at the rate of 15–20 t ha−1 significantly had the highest fresh weight of total biomass and weight of marketable yield (Tables 2, 3). All of the plots treated with three kinds of vermicompost significantly (P < 0.05) had higher yield than control (without vermicompost). Application of vermicomposts improved soil physicochemical and biological properties and added plant growth substance. Hence, it had a positive effect on the vegetative growth of plants and improved the yield and quality of horticultural crops (Atiyeh et al. 1999, 2000a, b, 2001; Hashemimajd et al. 2004; Gutiérrez-Miceli et al. 2007; Arancon et al. 2004b; Nurhidayati et al. 2016; Nurhidayati et al. 2017).

Table 3 Crop yield of the first, second, third, and fourth mustard cropping as influenced by direct and residual effect of interaction of three kinds of vermicompost and at various application rate
Full size table
Table 4 Marketable yield of the first, second, third, and fourth mustard cropping as influenced by direct and residual effect of interaction of three kinds of vermicompost and at various application rate
Full size table

There was a trend of increased yield on the plots treated with three kinds of vermicompost for the residual effect of the second mustard cropping. The highest increase was found on the vermicompost V1 as 41% and followed by V3 as 26% and V2 as 0.5% as compared with the same treatments on the direct effect of the first mustard cropping. The next residual effect for the third and fourth mustard cropping had a trend to decrease yield on the plots treated with the vermicompost V1 and V2, while on the plots treated with the vermicompost V3 had a trend to increase yield slightly (Fig. 2a, b).

Fig. 2
figure 2

The productivity of mustard due to direct and residual effect of three kinds of vermicompost at various application rates and the fourth planting periods of mustard. (remarks: M1, M2, M3 and M4 = The first, second, third and fourth mustard cropping)

Full size image

The results of this study corroborated with those reported by Jat and Ahlawat (2006) that the application of vermicompost had a positive effect on dry matter production directly on the first crop and gave residual effects on the succeeding crop. Chaoui et al. (2003) showed application of slow release fertilizer increased the synchrony between the plant’s nutrient requirements and nutrient availability hence to increase plant biomass. The favorable response of vermicompost might be due to relatively higher nutrient content of vermicompost, thereby enriching the supply of the entire essential macro- and micronutrients and increasing plant nutrient uptake (Gupta and Garg 2008; Nath et al. 2009; Chauhan and Joshi 2010; Shak et al. 2014). Increase in crop yield, however, was not only caused by the availability of adequate nutrients and synchrony of plant’s requirements, but also due to the improvement of soil physical properties affected by vermicompost application. Azarmi et al. (2008) reported that vermicompost applications can improve the bulk density and total porosity of the soil. Horticultural crops require soil conditions that are crumb due to shallow rooting. Vermicompost could also improve the soil aeration and infiltration (Arancon et al. 2008), thus providing a better medium for root growth (Chaoui et al. 2003). Improvement of soil physical conditions can create a good growth medium for crops hence the growth and crop yields increase (Manivannan et al. 2009).

Conclusion

Application of three kinds of vermicompost significantly increased soil nutrient availability, nutrient uptake and crop yield as compared with the control (without vermicompost application) for four mustard cropping sequences. The application of vermicompost provided the highest availability of N and K in soils on the second soil sampling (after harvesting mustard 1). While the highest P nutrient availability was found on the first soil sampling (2 weeks after transplanting the first mustard cropping). Application of vermicompost directly affected nutrient uptake and mustard yield, where the highest was found in vermicompost with bedding derived from coconut husk with dose of 10 t ha−1 but not significantly different with vermicompost using bedding of spent mushroom waste. The residual effect of vermicompost on the second mustard gave an increase in nutrient uptake and yield as compared with the direct effect, where the highest was found in vermicompost with bedding derived from the spent mushroom waste at rates of 10–15 t ha−1 and sugarcane trash at a rate of 20 t ha−1. Vermicompost with bedding sugarcane trash with a rate of 20 t ha−1 provided the best residual effect on the third and fourth mustard sequential cropping. These results suggest that vermicompost application is required in organic farming systems to provide the best direct and residual effect on the availability of soil nutrient, plant nutrient uptake and crop yields.