Dr Santiago Peredo, professor at the Technological Faculty of Universidad de Santiago, has shown that using natural fertilizers like humus and compost are suitable for growing vegetables. His project was awarded funds through the last Scientific and Technological Research Department (Dicyt) contest.
The objective of the study “Estructura comunitaria de la mesofauna edáfica en sistemas de cultivos hortícolas manejados con aplicaciones de compost”, led by Dr Santiago Peredo Parada of the Department of Agricultural Management of Universidad de Santiago, is to show that natural fertilizers are the best alternative for growing vegetables.
The study has been conducted in a demonstration center in Buin (Metropolitan Region), under the real management conditions of small scale producers in areas where lettuce, cauliflower, spinach, chard, tomato and carrots, for example, are grown.
According to the National Statistics Institute (INE, in Spanish), the horticultural surface of the country reaches 70 thousand hectares: 14% of them correspond to corn, 10% to lettuce and 7% to tomato. Many of these products are exported to foreign markets, so it is important that they comply with high standards of quality. Besides, they are major components of the country’s diet and small scale producers are their main suppliers.
Agro ecological research
One of the main challenges posed by an agro ecological study is the unpredictable behavior of climate at implementing the experimental design.
Dr Peredo is studying the variation of soil mesofauna in this farming systems to determine the amount and type of organisms present in a cropland, and how they vary (or not) when two organic fertilizers are used: compost and humus.
When using these natural fertilizers, soil mesofauna communities are the expected to modify their structures in different ways. Natural fertilizers are important because they activate the biology of the soil, contributing to improve the fertility of the soil and the development of crops.
The idea is that the soil contributes to the fertility of the plant, avoiding the use of synthetic fertilizers. “Soil life will provide the optimal conditions to get the nutrients required by crops. This process is slow as it is necessary to create a balance in the soil that allows delivering the nutrients available,” he said.
Benefiting the ecosystem
Dr Peredo’s study has shown two significant results so far. On the one hand, the organisms that abound in the soil correspond to the same functional groups detected by studies conducted abroad: mites and springtails. On the second hand, changes in community structure are more evident during the crop development and in relation to the type of crop, when comparing with previous projects.
The researcher highlights the importance of using this type of natural fertilizer, because “we should not only consider farming requirements, but also the needs of the soil organisms.”
“The variety of functional organisms in the soil contributes to create the edaphic conditions for crop development by stimulating the soil’s biology. This is one of the core elements of agro ecological management. Using natural fertilizers is an efficient way of adding balanced organic matter to the soil. This practice, together with polyculture, is the base of biodiversity management in agro ecological systems,” the researcher said.
Dr Peredo expects that his research line “will contribute to reassess the criteria for the granting of subsidies in soil reclamation and improvement programs, among others, and also to create new state incentives and aids. For us, it is imperative to conduct applied research under real conditions that allow an agro ecological transition at a parcel level.”
Translated by Marcela Contreras
