International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies
ISSN 2028-9324 Vol. 13 No. 1 Sep. 2015, pp. 185-189
© 2015 Innovative Space of Scientific Research Journals
http://www.ijias.issr-journals.org/
Corresponding Author: A. A. A. Mohamed 185
Economic considerations of using different types of organic manure on sweet pepper
yield under protected cultivation
A. A. A. Mohamed, M. A. A. Abdrabbo, M. Abul-Soud, and A. A. Farag
Central Laboratory for Agricultural Climate, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki 12411, Giza, Egypt
Copyright © 2015 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
ABSTRACT: An experiment was conducted at El-Bossily Protected Cultivation Experimental Farm, Central Laboratory for
Agricultural Climate (CLAC), Agricultural Research Center (ARC), at Behaira Governorate, Egypt, during the autumn seasons of
2010/2011 and 2011/2012 to study the Economic considerations of using different types of organic manure on sweet pepper
yield under protected cultivation (Vermicompost, compost and Cattle manure at the rates of 2, 4 and 6% (1.8, 3.6 and 5.4
m
3
/plastic house of 540m
2
) were the organic fertilizer treatments. The study aimed to investigate increasing organic soil
matter content in sandy soil via different rates and types of soil amendments as well as investigate their effects on vegetative
growth and yield of sweet pepper using a split plot design with three replicates. Results obtained indicate that the increasing
rate of the different soil amendments from 1.8 to 5.4 m
3
/plastic houses led to increase in vegetative growth and significantly
enhanced early and total yield of sweet pepper. The benefit cost ratio (BCR) was maximum (1.67) in the treatment of
vermicompost (4%), whereas the minimum (1.23) benefit cost ratio was obtained from cattle manure (2%) treatment in the
first season. The benefit cost ratio (BCR) was maximum (1.72) in the treatment of vermicompost (4%), whereas the minimum
(1.16) benefit cost ratio was obtained from compost (2%) treatment in the second season.
KEYWORDS: Benefit Costs ratio, Compost, Gross margin, Sweet paper, Vermicompost, Yield.
1 INTRODUCTION
Presented studies on sweet pepper plants grown under polyethylene tunnel and supplied with cattle, pigeon, chicken
manure and town refuse at 3-levels of each; 2, 4 or 6 m
3
/house (540 m
2
/ house) combined with or without the addition of
chemical fertilizers. Results showed that, addition of pigeon or chicken manure increased plant vegetative growth; plant
height, number of leaves, total leaf area, chlorophyll content, fresh and dry weight of whole plant and its organs. All
vegetative growth parameters were increased with increasing the level of organic manure (from 2 up to 6 m
3
.
Vermicompost is also thought to be more pathogen free than compost (Szczech, 1999) and has the ability to suppress
plant disease (Szczech, 1993). Studies at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center on soils under strawberries
and grapes observed a larger population of fungivorous and bacterivorous nematodes in soils where vermicompost was
applied than in soils with inorganic fertilizer treatments (Arancon et al., 2002).
Nevertheless, the most remarkable differences among compost and vermicompost are related to their biological
properties. Composting and vermicomposting are two rather different biological processes which strongly condition the
biological properties of the final substrate resulting in important differences among compost and vermicompost both in the
bacterial community composition (Vivas et al., 2009)
Sustainable agriculture needs sustained support of organic fertilizers and good practices of organic wastes.
Vermicomposting and composting secure friendly environment, recycling of organic wastes and creates the base for offering
high nutrients value compost for sustainable agriculture. The main objective of this study is to assess the economic
considerations of using different types of organic manure on some vegetable crops yield under protected cultivation.