Florence Alexandra Tóth,Tamás Magyar,János Tamás,Péter Tamás Nagy
Extreme weather and the declining organic matter content of soils cause serious sustainability problems in agriculture. Therefore, soil conditioner composites (chicken manure, bentonite and super absorbent polymer) were developed and tested in an integrated apple orchard characterized by poor nutrient and water management to study their effects on soil, leaf and fruit attributes. Composites with higher doses of additives increased soil organic carbon by 4–9 g/kg, and organic nitrogen by 1.8–2.8 g/kg compared to the control (p< 0.05). Similarly, soil nitrate content steadily increased from 8–10 mg/kg to 30–38 mg/kg by composites. Composites effectively elevated leaf N, K, Ca, and Mg while not affecting the leaf P (p< 0.05). Treatments significantly enhanced the yields by 14–63% on average compared to the control. Treatments with bentonite improved the fruit weight by 2% and 24% compared to the chicken manure. On average, composite treatments increased the titratable acidity of fruits by 26–43% compared to the control and 0.5–10% compared to the treatment containing solely chicken manure. Overall, the developed organic-based composites are able to cope with changing circumstances that could help mitigate the negative effects of climate change, especially in arid areas, thus contributing to sustainable nutrient management.
Zhihui Liu,Fan Wang,Yunhe Zhang,Eresbek Temir,Xiaotong Zhou,Yilei Shangguan,Donghai Zhang,Zhiping Cai
Functional plants possess the ability to attract natural enemies or repel pests, and they play an important role in ecological regulation. While most studies have focused on the impacts of individual plants or plant combinations with similar functions on pests, there is a scarcity of research on the effects of combining plants with different functions, particularly in the case of orchard pests. In this study, we combined plants ( Cnidium monnieri (L.) or Brassica napus L.) that attract predators with plants ( Ocimum basilicum L. or Mentha haplocalyx Briq.) that repel pests to determine if these combinations can enhance biocontrol of Aphis spiraecola Patch on apple trees. All four combinations reduced the A. spiraecola population on apple trees. B. napus & M. haplocalyx achieved the highest reduction rate (88.58%), followed by C. monnieri & O. basilicum (88.06%), B. napus & O. basilicum (86.11%), and C. monnieri & M. haplocalyx (79.41%). Cage exclusion tests on 29 June and 4 July 2023 showed that biocontrol services index of all combinations was significantly higher than that of the control. Rubidium marking test showed that 61.90%–71.43% of Chrysoperla sinica (Tjeder) individuals in trees had transferred from functional plants. Behavioral responses and field trapping indicated that compounds such as cis -citral, nepetalactone, caryophyllene, beta-pinene, and eugenol, which are present in repellent plants, had significant repellency against A. spiraecola . The use of functional plant combinations in apple orchards can enhance biocontrol of A. spiraecola by promoting predators and by repelling aphid. This supports the potential of functional plant combinations in agroforestry ecosystems for pest biocontrol.
危险品化学品经营许可证（带存储）