IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0256450.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The influence of vermicomposting on photosynthetic activity and productivity of maize (Zea mays L.) crop under semi-arid climate

Author

Listed:
  • Muhammad Younas
  • Huasong Zou
  • Tasmia Laraib
  • Waseem Abbas
  • Muhammad Waqar Akhtar
  • Muhammad Naveed Aslam
  • Luqman Amrao
  • Shoukat Hayat
  • Tariq Abdul Hamid
  • Akhtar Hameed
  • Ghalib Ayaz Kachelo
  • Mona M Elseehy
  • Ahmed M El-Shehawi
  • Ali Tan Kee Zuan
  • Yunzhou Li
  • Muhammad Arif

Abstract

Food production and waste recycling are the two major issues faced globally with rapidly increasing population. Recycling organic wastes to crop amendments could be a possible solution to these issues. Earthworms transfer organic waste to compost, which is used to grow crops and increase crop productivity. This study assessed the impact of vermicompost produced from the residues of six desert plant species, i.e., (Ziziphus mauritiana, Aerva javanica, Calligonum comosum, Sacchrum benghalens, Calligonum polygonoides and Prosopis cineraria) combined with farmyard manure (5 t ha-1) on growth, yield and photosynthetic activity of maize crop. Earthworm species Eisenia fetida (Savigny, 1826) was used to prepare vermicomposting of all tested plant species. The desert species were collected from natural habitats, chopped, dried, mixed with FYM and then earthworms were released to prepare the vermicompost. The earthworms were excluded twenty days after release and resultant was considered as compost and used in the experiment. Results revealed that application of P. cineraria vermicompost resulted in the highest plant height (75.33 cm), stem diameter (22.66 mm), cob length (17.66 cm), number of grains/cob (374.67), 1000-grain weight (260.41 g) and grains yield (3.20 t/ha). Application of P. cineraria vermicompost resulted in the highest uptake of macronutrients, i.e., N (91.01%), P (22.07%), K (80.41%), micronutrients, i.e., Fe (19.07 ppm), Zn (40.05 ppm), and phenolic contents (150). Application of P. cineraria vermicompost also resulted in the highest quantum photosynthetic yield (0.42 mole C/mole of photon), chlorophyll florescence (355.18 moles of photon m-2s-1) and electron transport rate (310.18 micro mole m-2s-1). It is concluded that vermicomposting has the potential to improve growth and yield of maize crop. Particularly, application of vermicompost obtained from P. cineraria can be used to improve the growth and yield of maize crop. Nonetheless, field trials are necessary for a wide scale recommendation.

Suggested Citation

  • Muhammad Younas & Huasong Zou & Tasmia Laraib & Waseem Abbas & Muhammad Waqar Akhtar & Muhammad Naveed Aslam & Luqman Amrao & Shoukat Hayat & Tariq Abdul Hamid & Akhtar Hameed & Ghalib Ayaz Kachelo & , 2021. "The influence of vermicomposting on photosynthetic activity and productivity of maize (Zea mays L.) crop under semi-arid climate," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(8), pages 1-9, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0256450
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256450
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0256450
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0256450&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0256450?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Esteban F. Durán-Lara & Aly Valderrama & Adolfo Marican, 2020. "Natural Organic Compounds for Application in Organic Farming," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-22, February.
    2. Li, Wenchao & Guo, Shufang & Liu, Hongbin & Zhai, Limei & Wang, Hongyuan & Lei, Qiuliang, 2018. "Comprehensive environmental impacts of fertilizer application vary among different crops: Implications for the adjustment of agricultural structure aimed to reduce fertilizer use," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 1-10.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tahsina Sharmin Hoque & Ahmed Khairul Hasan & Md. Arefin Hasan & Nurun Nahar & Debasish Kumer Dey & Shamim Mia & Zakaria M. Solaiman & Md. Abdul Kader, 2022. "Nutrient Release from Vermicompost under Anaerobic Conditions in Two Contrasting Soils of Bangladesh and Its Effect on Wetland Rice Crop," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-17, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Małgorzata Holka & Jolanta Kowalska, 2023. "The Potential of Adjuvants Used with Microbiological Control of Insect Pests with Emphasis on Organic Farming," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-14, August.
    2. Yigit Kazancoglu & Cisem Lafci & Anil Kumar & Sunil Luthra & Jose Arturo Garza‐Reyes & Yalcin Berberoglu, 2024. "The role of agri‐food 4.0 in climate‐smart farming for controlling climate change‐related risks: A business perspective analysis," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 2788-2802, May.
    3. Yin, Gaofei & Wang, Xiaofei & Du, Huiying & Shen, Shizhou & Liu, Canran & Zhang, Keqiang & Li, Wenchao, 2019. "N2O and CO2 emissions, nitrogen use efficiency under biogas slurry irrigation: A field study of two consecutive wheat-maize rotation cycles in the North China Plain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 232-240.
    4. Kai Xu & Jiaogen Zhou & Qiuliang Lei & Wenbiao Wu & Guangxiong Mao, 2023. "Effect of Agricultural Structure Adjustment on Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Net Anthropogenic Nitrogen Inputs in the Pearl River Basin from 1990 to 2019," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-18, January.
    5. Jan Buczek & Marta Jańczak-Pieniążek & Elżbieta Harasim & Cezary A. Kwiatkowski & Ireneusz Kapusta, 2023. "Effect of Cropping Systems and Environment on Phenolic Acid Profiles and Yielding of Hybrid Winter Wheat Genotypes," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-21, April.
    6. Maria M. Whitton & Xipeng Ren & Sung J. Yu & Andrew D. Irving & Tieneke Trotter & Yadav S. Bajagai & Dragana Stanley, 2022. "Sea Minerals Reduce Dysbiosis, Improve Pasture Productivity and Plant Morphometrics in Pasture Dieback Affected Soils," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-18, November.
    7. Xiaohong Zhou & Donghong Ding, 2022. "Factors Influencing Farmers’ Willingness and Behaviors in Organic Agriculture Development: An Empirical Analysis Based on Survey Data of Farmers in Anhui Province," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-21, November.
    8. Michail Tsangas & Ifigeneia Gavriel & Maria Doula & Flouris Xeni & Antonis A. Zorpas, 2020. "Life Cycle Analysis in the Framework of Agricultural Strategic Development Planning in the Balkan Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-15, February.
    9. Nakhaii, Fatemeh & Ghanbari, Seyed Ahmad & Asgharipour, Mohammad Reza & Seyedabadi, Esmaeel & Sciubba, Enrico, 2024. "Evaluating ecological sustainability of mechanized and traditional systems of damaskrose production using extended exergy analysis," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 488(C).
    10. Wenhao Song & Chunhui Ye, 2022. "Impact of the Cultivated-Land-Management Scale on Fertilizer Reduction—Empirical Evidence from the Countryside of China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-15, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0256450. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.