103(4)_str45

ISSN 1392-3196 / e-ISSN 2335-8947
Zemdirbyste-Agriculture, vol. 103, No. 4 (2016), p. 355–362
DOI  10.13080/z-a.2016.103.045

The influence of composts on yield and chemical elements of winter wheat and spring barley

Gediminas STAUGAITIS, Ieva NARUTYTĖ, Jonas ARBAČAUSKAS, Zigmas VAIŠVILA,
Kęstutis RAINYS, Romas MAŽEIKA, Aistė MASEVIČIENĖ, Lina ŽIČKIENĖ, Donatas ŠUMSKIS

Abstract

In 2013–2014, research was carried out on a Bathihypogleyi-Haplic Luvisol (LVh-gld-w) soil with predominant sandy loam and pHKCl 4.9–5.2 with a view to finding out how composts produced from sewage sludge, green waste and biogas production waste influenced grain and straw yields of winter wheat grown in the first year after compost incorporation and spring barley grown in the second year after incorporation as well as the concentrations of nitrogen, potassium and heavy metals in grain and straw. The field experiment was conducted in the fields of Elmininkai Experimental Station (Anykščiai distr., Eastern Lithuania) of the Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry. The investigations proved that the composts incorporated without mineral fertilizer did not increase grain and straw of winter wheat grown in the first year after incorporation. During the second year, the composts increased the spring barley grain yield as follows: biogas – by 72.9%, green waste – 68.6%, cattle manure – 58.9% and sewage sludge – 45.2%. The application of composts on the background of mineral fertilizers did not significantly increase winter wheat and spring barley grain and straw yields compared with mineral fertilizers. The concentration of chemical elements in plants depended on the compost degradation process in soil. During the first year after incorporation of composts, nitrogen (N) concentration in winter wheat grain was increased by biogas, and during the second year – by sewage sludge and green waste composts in spring barley grain. Potassium (K) concentration in winter wheat and spring barley straw was increased by cattle manure, biogas and sewage sludge composts. During the first year, all composts increased phosphorus (P) concentration in winter wheat straw. The concentrations of heavy metals (Cd, Ni, Pb, Zn, Mn and Cu) in grain and straw were close to the background levels. The composts used in the study increased the content of nickel in winter wheat and spring barley grain and straw somewhat more significantly.

Key words: composts, grain, heavy metals, spring barley, straw, winter wheat.

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