- 291 - Compost and humic substance effects on soil parameters of Vitis vinifera L cv Thompson seedless Paola Fincheira-Robles 1, 3 ; María Mercedes Martínez-Salgado 1, 2, * ; Rodrigo Ortega-Blu 1 ; Marc Janssens 2 1 Grupo de Investigación en Suelo, Planta, Agua y Ambiente (GISPA). Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María. Santiago, Chile. 2 TROPEN- Tropical Crops, Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation INRES Bonn Universität, Bonn Germany Auf dem Hugel 6, 53121 Bonn, PC. 531113. 3 Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias de Recursos Naturales. Universidad de La Frontera. Temuco, Chile. Received March 30, 2016. Accepted Jun 30, 2016. Abstract The use of organic amendments is common under the concept of integrated nutrient management (INM) in Vitis vinifera (Table grape) to improve plant and soil quality. The objective of this study was to evaluate compost (C) and humic substances (HS) mixed with mineral fertilizer (MF) in an INM program of V. vinifera cv Thompson seedless. The chemical, biochemical and microbiological parameters were evaluated in soil on 1-year- old V. vinifera plants growing on Alfisol soil. Five treatments and control were evaluated: (T1) C+MF, (T2) HS+MF, (T3) C, (T4) HS, (T5) MF and (T6) absolute control. The results indicated that the application of C and HS, increased β glucosidase and dehydrogenase activities, reaching values of 90.2 µg p-nitrophenol g - 1 h -1 and 9.1 μg de TFP g -1 24h -1 , respectively. In addition, pH was similar in all treatments while electrical conductivity increased with application of mineral and organic amendments, reaching 0.41dS m -1 in T2 (HS+MF). Furthermore, yeast concentration increased with organic amendments or mineral. Correlation analysis indicated significant and positive relationships between PO4-P concentration with MF (0.579) and C (0.431) and nitrogen with MF (0.868). These results support that INM, which combines mineral fertilization and organic amendments, improve positive changes in chemical soil properties and C cycling measured in terms of enzymatic activity in V. vinifera. Key words: organic amendments, integral nutrition management, soil quality indicators. 1. Introduction Nowadays, mineral fertilizers and organic amendments (OA) are commonly used as part of integrated nutrient management (INM) programs to increase productivity. The INM includes the use of good-quality organic matter sources and efficient mineral products in combination with good agricultural practices to get a good soil, plant and fruit quality, especially in grape orchards (Ortega, 2015). Vitis vinifera L plantations in Chile cover more than 50 thousand ha of wine or table grape (Bravo, 2014). The nutrient requi- rements during the establishment period are very important to prevent phenotypic alterations and to improve plant and fruit quality. Normally, mineral fertilizers are used in combination with organic matter (goat manure or grape pomace compost) at rates of 10 a 15 t ha -1 to improve content of organic matter in soil, nutrients availability and beneficial microorganisms (Palma, 2006). In addition, they have the capacity to promote plant growth by increasing root biomass, cell rhizodeposition, root size and root hair density (Martínez et al., 2010a). To follow the effects of the integrated nutrient management, soil quality indica- tors need to be defined, looking for sensitive chemical, biochemical, and microbiological properties and their Scientia Agropecuaria Website: http://revistas.unitru.edu.pe/index.php/scientiaagrop Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias Universidad Nacional de Trujillo Scientia Agropecuaria 7 (3): 291 – 296 (2016) --------- * Corresponding author © 2016 All rights reserved. E-mail: maria.martinez@usm.cl (M.M. Martínez-Salgado). DOI: 10.17268/sci.agropecu.2016.03.17