Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 7.5
Cabbage seedlings
(crop 9), shortly after
being transplanted into the
experiment plot beds
Fig. 7.6
Harvesting the
cabbages at the end of crop
9 at the CROA long term
compost-vegetable field trial
site
The crops were drip irrigated with irrigation scheduling based on gypsum blocks (G
bug) soil moisture monitoring of plots. More details of the field trial management
are provided in Chan et al. (
2008
) and Chan et al. (
2010
).
7.3
Impacts of Compost on Intensive Vegetable
Production Systems
Intensive vegetable production systems can degrade soil quality and function, and
as a consequence lead to a decline in crop yields over time. Inputs of compost have
been found to improve a number of measures of soil quality, sometimes resulting in
crop yield benefits. Some of these impacts are outlined in the following sections.