Effects of Green Manure Crops on Improvement of Chemical and Biological Properties in Soil

Abstract

We used green manure crops such as hairy vetch, crimson clover, rye, sorghum, and sudan grass by mixing with soils to assess the effects of green manure crops on nutrient supply and soil quality improvement. Temporal changes in soil inorganic nitrogen, carbohydrate, microbial biomass, and humus content were determined as soil quality indicators. Inorganic nitrogen content of the control maintained similar level during the whole period, but it had continually increased until 4 weeks after incorporation (WAI) of green manure crops. Especially, inorganic nitrogen content sharply increased in sudan grass. After incorporation of green manure crops, temporal change of soluble sugar in soils was as follows: it had gradually increased in legume green manure crops-incorporated soils until 7 WAI, which was the highest, and then showed the tendency to be reduced. Meanwhile, it in non-legume green manure crops-incorporated soils rapidly increased after the incorporation, and reached the maximum around 4 WAI. Humic acid by the decomposition of crop residues in green manure crops-incorporated soils was greatly enhanced with the elapsed time of 4 WAI, although it was low at the same level as the control until 2 weeks. In addition, there was a difference in fulvic acid by incorporated crops, fulvic acid in hairy vetch, sorghum and sudan grass showed a similar tendency with the change in humic acid. Our results suggest that soluble sugar, microbial activity and humic acid could be available indicators to evaluate the fertility of green manure crops-incorporated soils.