Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Dallas, Texas A&M University, Dallas, TX, United States of America.
PeerJ. 2024 Feb 21;12:e16902. doi: 10.7717/peerj.16902. eCollection 2024.
Organic agriculture has grown rapidly in recent years due to its environmental friendliness, sustainability, and improved farm profitability. Transplants are commonly used for fruits and vegetables to achieve consistent quality, uniformity, and easy field spacing control. The efficacy and optimal amounts of fertilizers for organic transplant production need to be investigated.
The effects of three organic fertilizers (Sustane 4-6-4, Nature Safe 7-7-7, and Dramatic 2-4-1) and one conventional fertilizer Peters Professional 20-20-20 (Conventional) with four doses (nitrogen (N) content was matched among fertilizers in each level, as 0.14 g/L, 0.28 g/L, 0.56 g/L, and 0.84 g/L N, respectively) on watermelon seedlings were compared in this study.
The results showed that all organic fertilizer treatments were not significantly different from the Conventional group in terms of watermelon germination. The only exception was the highest dose of Sustane 4-6-4 (0.84 g/L N) which decreased the germination rate and relative emergence index. Generally, growth index, shoot fresh and dry weights, true leaf number, and stem diameter increased as the amount of N increased within each fertilizer type. The best shoot growth was observed in the highest doses of Conventional and Dramatic 2-4-1 treatments (0.84 g/L N). However, Dramatic 2-4-1 treatments resulted in the lowest root growth when compared to other fertilizers at the same N dose. The second highest fertilization dose (0.56 g/L N) of Sustane 4-6-4 had the best root growth according to root fresh weight, root volume, root area, total root length, as well as the numbers of root tip and crossing when compared to other treatments. For seedlings, a well-developed root system can ensure a good seedling establishment and high survival rate under stressful field conditions after transplanting. Thus, Sustane 4-6-4 at 14 g/L (0.56 g/L N) is recommended to produce high-quality organic watermelon seedlings among the treatments applied in this study.
近年来，由于有机农业具有环保、可持续和提高农场盈利能力等特点，其发展迅速。移栽在水果和蔬菜中通常被用于实现一致的质量、均匀性和易于田间间距控制。需要研究有机移栽生产中肥料的功效和最佳用量。
本研究比较了三种有机肥（Sustane 4-6-4、Nature Safe 7-7-7 和 Dramatic 2-4-1）和一种常规肥 Peters Professional 20-20-20（常规），这四种肥料的四个剂量（在每个水平上，肥料中的氮（N）含量匹配，分别为 0.14 g/L、0.28 g/L、0.56 g/L 和 0.84 g/L N）对西瓜幼苗的影响。
结果表明，在西瓜发芽方面，所有有机肥处理与常规组均无显著差异。唯一的例外是 Sustane 4-6-4 的最高剂量（0.84 g/L N），它降低了发芽率和相对发芽指数。通常，在每种肥料类型中，随着 N 量的增加，生长指数、茎鲜重和干重、真叶数和茎直径增加。在常规和 Dramatic 2-4-1 处理的最高剂量（0.84 g/L N）下观察到最佳的茎生长。然而，与其他肥料相比，Dramatic 2-4-1 处理在相同 N 剂量下导致根系生长最差。根据根鲜重、根体积、根面积、总根长以及根尖和交叉的数量，Sustane 4-6-4 的第二高施肥量（0.56 g/L N）的根生长最好。对于幼苗来说，一个发达的根系可以确保在移栽后田间条件恶劣的情况下良好的幼苗建立和高成活率。因此，与本研究中应用的其他处理相比，建议在 14 g/L（0.56 g/L N）的 Sustane 4-6-4 生产高质量的有机西瓜幼苗。
