Effects of Leonardite on Soil Properties and the Nutrients Concentrations of Tomato Plants

ABSTRACT

Leonardite is an important source of organic fertilizers and soil amendment. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of increased doses of leonardite (control (L₀), 20 (L₂₀), 40 (L₄₀), 60 (L₆₀), and 80 (L₈₀) t ha⁻¹) on soil properties at different incubation times (control (T₀), 15 (T₁₅), 30 (T₃₀), 45 (T₄₅), 60 (T₆₀), and 90 (T₉₀) days). Analysis results of soil samples taken during six different incubation periods. Results showed that application of leonardite significantly improved soil organic matter (SOM), total nitrogen (N), exchangeable calcium (Ca) and, available iron (Fe), manganese (Mn) and zinc (Zn), especially with L₄₀ and L₆₀. Prolonged incubation time was significantly increased N, P, K, Ca, Fe, Zn concentrations especially T₆₀ and T₉₀. The nutrient concentration of the tomato plants was not affected by increased doses of leonardite, except for total N, Fe and Cu. By the way, prolongation of the incubation period resulted in fluctuating nutrient concentrations of the plant. As a result, it was determined that leonardite improved the chemical properties of the soils but it was not sufficient in the feeding of the tomato plant. Therefore, leonardite must be used with chemical fertilizers for plant growing.

KEYWORDS:

• Incubation times
• leonardite
• soil properties
• tomato

View correction statement:

Correction

Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by the Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit of Akdeniz University (Grant no. FBA-2016-1799). Also, we would like to thank Erbil Demir, Nil Ozen and Ezgi Kilic for their contributions in the laboratory section of this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article was originally published with errors, which have now been corrected in the online version. Please see Correction (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00103624.2024.2337539)

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Scientific Studies Management Unit of Akdeniz University [FBA-2016-1799].