Effects of organic supplementation to reduced rates of chemical fertilization on soil fertility of Zanthoxylum armatum

Soil acidification, fertility depletion, food insecurity, and environmental pollution all are consequences of the extensive use of chemical fertilizers (CF) in intensively managed plantations. Recent studies have shown that incorporating organic manure (OM) to partially replace CF can help to maintain productivity and soil health. There are no reports on integrated fertilizer management of Zanthoxylum armatum, for optimal ecological services and economic profitability. A pot experiment with Z. armatum was performed to investigate the possibility of incorporating OM in reducing CF use, enhancing soil fertility, and increasing plant growth. For this, seven treatments were designed: NPK, PK, NP, NK, OM, MNPK (50%NPK+50%OM), and control (CK, no fertilizer application). The results showed that NPK application significantly (P < 0.05) increased plant growth, soil nitrate-N, ammonium-N and available K compared to CK. However conventional CF application induced soil acidification. OM application raised the soil pH from 5.50 (CK) to 6.58 and significantly enhanced soil fertility by increasing alkali-hydrolysable N (2.3 times), ammonium-N (1.4 times), available P (4.3 times), the activity of invertase (1.5 times), catalase (2.8 times), acid phosphatase (1.5 times), and count of soil culturable microbes (2.9 times) compared to CK. Conversely, sole OM application did not result in optimum plant growth. Integrating OM with NPK (MNPK), on the other hand, not only provided the highest growth comprehensive value (0.84), but also substantially higher soil fertility comprehensive value (0.71) than traditional CF treatments. Correlation analysis also indicated a positive and significant correlation between soil microbes, enzyme activities and available nutrients. Therefore, OM+NPK could be an optimum measure to get maximum benefits regarding soil fertility, growth of Z. armatum, fertilizer savings and sustainable agroecology.