Impact of green manure and organic fertilizers on the yields and safety of organic carrots grown on muck soil

Description

Plots were set up at the Organic Agriculture Innovation Platform in St-Bruno-de-Montarville, Québec. They included nine treatments replicated four times in a split-plot design with green manure (none, grain, and legumes) in the main plots and fertilization methods in the subplots (no fertilizer, poultry manure pellets, and composted beef manure).

Objective(s)

• Quantify the effect of different combinations of green manure and organic fertilizers on:
  • Microbial populations and their activity in the soil
  • Marketable carrot yields
  • Nitrogen mineralization and soil and carrot nitrate, macronutrient, and micronutrient content
  • E. coli persistence in the soil and on the crop
  • The economic yield of these production systems