ENHANCING SOIL FERTILITY AND LETTUCE PRODUCTION THROUGH

DIFFERENT ORGANIC AMENDMENTS

INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, soil functionality and productivity are severely impaired due, in great part, to
the fact that most of the land is being intensively used for food production and urbanization
purposes, with a consequent rise in the generation of wastes and consumption/degradation of
fertile soils. Basically, any organic or inorganic material that is added to the soil and improves
its quality can be considered as soil amendment. The type of amendment chosen depends entirely
on how the soil needs to be changed. By using soil amendment, almost every type of soil can be
made fertile (WEST COAST SEEDS 2011).

For the purpose of this study, Organic amendments add nutrients plus organic matter,
offering many more opportunities for improvement of soil physical, chemical and biological
properties, important for success of soil reclamation initiatives. For example, addition of
biosolids was more effective at enhancing properties related to soil quality and fertility on
reclaimed copper mine tailings sites in British Columbia than the traditional use of inorganic
fertilizer (Gardner et al. 2010). Reid and Naeth (2005a,b) reported similar findings for
establishment of vegetation cover on tundra kimberlite mine tailings in Northwest Territories,
Canada, where biosolids and composted paper mill sludge were superior to fertilizer.

Many farmers are aware of the benefits that organic products offer, especially in terms of
improved crop yields, increased soil fertility, reduced fertilizer costs, and their overall
contribution to sustainable agriculture. Concerns have been raised, however, regarding the safety
of organic soil amendments. Depending on the type of product, these can include (but are not
limited to) the accumulation of phosphorus and metals in soils, plant uptake of land-applied
metals, the contamination of groundwater and soil with organic compounds, and potential health
impacts from pathogens and viruses could be the problem particularly acute in this case.
 The importance of this study is to enhance soil. Since organic matter plays such a key
role in soil productivity by affecting almost all physical, chemical and biological properties,
successful land reclamation, depends on recreating a surface horizon with enough soil organic
matter to sustain productivity (Akala and Lal 2000). Although surface horizons may be recreated
by importing topsoil, the practice is expensive and uneconomical, and the topsoil exporting area
is degraded to fix a problem elsewhere. If imported topsoil is not readily available, addition of
organic amendments may be an option.

This study aims to determine the improvement of soil fertility and lettuce production
using organic amendments. Since these organic inputs provide energy and nutrients to soil
leading to a considerable change in the environment which becomes appropriate for survival of
crops and proliferation of microorganisms. More likely, this exercise is further reinforced by the
consumers’ demand as they are more conscious towards their health.

This study uses interview method by gathering information and be done in the S.Y. 2020.
References

Akala, V. A. and Lal, R. 2000. Potential of mine land reclamation for soil organic carbon
sequestration in Ohio. Land Degrad. Devel. 11: 289297.

Gardner, W. C., Broersma, K., Naeth, A., Chanasyk, D. and Jobson, A. 2010. Influence of
biosolids and fertilizer amendments on physical, chemical and microbiological properties of
copper mine tailings. Can. J. Soil Sci. 90: 571583.

Lynne H., Eliot E., Terry L,. Stephen D., Karen S.(2003 February). Evaluating Risks and
Benefits of Soil Amendments Used in Agriculture. Volume 2, 9781843396512.

Reid, N. B. and Naeth, M. A. 2005b. Establishment of a vegetation cover on tundra kimberlite

mine tailings: 2. A field study. Restor. Ecol. 13: 602608.

Ansari R.A., Sumbul A., Rizvi R., Mahmood I. (2019) Organic Soil Amendments: Potential
Tool for Soil and Plant Health Management. In: Ansari R., Mahmood I. (eds) Plant Health
Under Biotic Stress. Springer, Singapore

WEST COAST SEEDS (2011): Soil Amendments and How to Use Them. Ladner: West Coast
Seeds URL [Accessed: 09.07.2019]