Effect of inoculated green manures on the chemical properties of an ferric luvisol from Campeche, México

Abstract

An experiment was carried out in the f ield with the objective of evaluating the ef fects of the application of three green legume fertilizers on some chemical properties in an iron luvisol (K’an kab in Mayan), representative of the agricultural areas of the state of Campeche. A randomized complete block design was used with seven treatments: Mucuna pruriens L., Vigna unguiculata L. and Phaseolus lunatus inoculated or not with endomycorrhizae and benef icial nitrogen-f ixing bacteria, compared with the control constituted by the incorporation of weeds plus diammonium phosphate (DAP). The results show that all the studied soil properties: organic matter (MOS), electrical conductivity (CE), pH characteristics, as well as the determination of the macronutrient content (N, P, K, Ca, Mg and Na), micronutrients (B, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn), add exchangeable bases (meq/100 g) and the C:N ratio, behaved in a similar way in statistical terms (P < 0.05). The green manures achieved nutrient contributions comparable to the fertilization that combined the DAP with the incorporated biomass of weeds, which shows that the use of green manures, even of legume species cultivated as food in the agroecosystems of the Yucatan Peninsula, can replace conventional fertilization in ferric luvisols from Campeche, Mexico.