Abstract

TREJO-ESCARENO, Héctor Idilio; SALAZAR-SOSA, Enrique; LOPEZ-MARTINEZ, José Dimas  and  VAZQUEZ-VAZQUEZ, Cirilo. Impact of cow manure in soil and corn forage production. Rev. Mex. Cienc. Agríc [online]. 2013, vol.4, n.5, pp.727-738. ISSN 2007-0934.

The demand for forage in the region known as Comarca Lagunera, has forced the growth of corn to become permanent in the crop pattern. Adequate soil management is necessary to sustain the production of forage crops. The objective of this study was to determine how the use of cow manure affected the pH, electric conductivity (EC), organic matter (OM), nitrates (NO₃), and ammonium (NH₄) of clayey soil, as well as its effect on the production of corn forage. The site of the research was the Faculty of Agriculture and Zootechnics-UJED, from 1998 through 2007. The treatments used for the study where dairy cow manure 40, 80, 120 and 160 MG ha^-1, absolute control plot, and chemical treatment 100-150 (kg ha^-1; N-P), using a random block design with three repeat doses. The measured variable in the plant was green forage crop. Treatment with manure, at 160 and 120 Mg ha^-1, increased OM contents in the soil (4 and 3.8%). Regarding nitrates, the best treatments were 120 and 160 Mg ha^-1 manure, with baseline values being 22.25 and 21.33 mg kg^-1. EC increased above 4 dSm^-1 within five years of manure treatment. Not applying manure during the sixth year caused the values to reduce to normal values for the development and production of corn, with yields above the regional mean (45 Mg ha^-1) in relation to manure treatments. Applying manure with continuous soil monitoring is a good choice for the dairy producer to maintain positive forage yield, and soil quality.

Keywords : electric conductivity; green forage; organic matter; nitrates.