Primeros cambios en la cantidad de bacterias, hongos, macroinvertebrados y propiedades físicas del suelo luego de la aplicación de enmiendas orgánicas en un suelo previamente manejado de forma convencional

Abstract

Soil management in organic production systems is aimed to create favorable conditions for setting microbial communities that benefit crops. To create these conditions, different types of organic amendments were applied to the soil, which contribute with substrates to the development of these communities and add new organisms that increase the diversity of these communities. It has been reported that the time required reaching a soil with a sufficiently diverse and active biology to support agricultural production systems could range from 5 and 7 years. During this period, crop yields are typically low and variable. In this research, the initial changes in the amount of bacteria, fungi, macroinvertebrates and soil physical properties induced by the application of four organic amendments (manure, bokashi compost, biofertilizer) were characterized in a soil previously managed in a conventional manner. This experiment was conducted to determine the effect of applying these amendments in the biology and physical soil properties in the short term. Results indicated that, in a general, four months after the application of the amendments, no statistically significant differences were detected in biology or physical properties of the soil between the soil with amendments and those with conventionally managed control. However, statistically significant differences were detected between the values of pre-treatment and the final values for some variables, suggesting that the presence of the crop itself, the cultural practices conducted during the experiment or environmental factors not controlled in this experiment could have an effect on these variables. Similarly, the values of the variables associated to the vegetal response of the crop used as coverage (i.e. corn) were not statistically different.