Impacts on Productivity through Sustainable Fertilization of Nopal (Opuntia Ficus-Indica) Crops Using Organic Compost

Maria Tavera-Cortés, Pablo Escamilla-García and Francisco Pérez-Soto

Journal of Agricultural Science, 2018, vol. 10, issue 4, 297

Abstract: This paper shows the results obtained when evaluating current practices in cultivation processes of nopal. Production of nopal in the borough of Milpa Alta in Mexico City has been based for more than 40 years on the use of high doses of fresh cow manure (up to 600 t ha-1). It is necessary to consider the effects that this type of fertilization could have on the environment. In order to compare the effect of different fertilization methods on the production, quality and shelf-life of cladodes, three-year-old cactus plants were fertilized with compost, compost leachate, fresh manure cow and synthetic fertilizer; plants treated with water served as a control. The plants fertilized with compost (leached or solid) tended to a higher yield (g) per plant, although there were no significant statistical differences between treatments. Cladodes produced with solid compost or fresh manure showed a lower pH (4.7) than those produced with water to the soil. Cladodes produced with synthetic fertilizers showed higher shear strength than those produced with manure. Cladodes produced with synthetic fertilizer and compost leachate took more days to show shelf darkening (oxidation) than those produced with soil water. In addition, the use of compost showed a significant impact on cost reduction during the production nopal given a lower cost against manure and synthetic fertilizer.

Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jas/article/download/73029/40786 (application/pdf)
https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jas/article/view/73029 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ibn:jasjnl:v:10:y:2018:i:4:p:297

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Agricultural Science from Canadian Center of Science and Education Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Canadian Center of Science and Education ().