Effect of cattle manure, coir dust and paddy husk ash on physical and chemical properties of potting media.

Abstract

An experiment was carried out at the Agronomy farm of the Eastern University, Sri Lanka ot study the efect of organic manures on physical and chemical properties of media used ni pot culture technique. Thre different types of organic manures (cattle manure, coir dust and paddy husk ash) were tested and soil type used for this experiment si sandy regosol. The experiment was laid ou! ni a Complete Randomized Design (CRD) with five treatments and four replications. Different types of poting media were prepared yb mixing of poting materials tadiferent ratio (viv) such sa such sa medium IT,) used as control contained sandy soil only, meduim - 2(T,) contained sandy soil: catle manure at ratio of 3:), medium -3(T,) contained sandy soil: catle manure: coir dust at ratio of 6:2:1, medium - 4 (T,) contained sandy soil: cattle manure: paddy husk ash at ratio of 6:2:1 and medium-S (T,) contained sandysoil: catle manure: coir dust: paddy huskashatratio of 12:4:):1. Soit testing was done ni two stages vie day on media preparation and four weeks after media preparation. Disturbed soil sample was colected from each medium and its both physical and chemical properties were estimated. The results indicated that organic manures have significant effect on hte properties of potting media. Addition of organic manures restilted ni the improvement of physical properties such as water holding capacity, particle density, bulk density and porosity and chemical propertiessuch as pH, nutrients content (P and K), organic matter contentand electrical conductivity of poting media. Among tested materials, paddy husk ash increased pH and nutrients content (P and K) of media distinctly and improved other properties such water holding capacity, electrical conductivity and porosity ot optimum level. Medium (T,) contained sandy soil, cattle manure and paddy husk ash at ratio of 6:2: 1showed highestsoil Hp (7.4), Pcontent (77 mg/kg) and Kcontent (88 mg/kg). Usage of paddy husk ash as apoting material with sandy soil and cattle manure for media preparation ni pot culture technique would improve both physical and chemical properties of medium and provide favourable condition for root establishment and crop growth