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Farm manure and bentonite clay amendments enhance the date palm morphology and yield

  • 2nd CAJG 2019
  • Published:
Arabian Journal of Geosciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Date palm production contributes significantly to socio-economic development and food security in the dryland areas of Southern Tunisia. Soil degradation and nutrient depletion have dramatically increased in recent years. This is leading to a decline in date palm yields in these oases-based production systems. Locally derived bentonite clay has been identified as a new soil amendment to improve date morphological characteristics and date production. In this study, a 3-year field experimental study was carried out on 3-year-old Deglet Nour date palms growing in sandy soil of a Tunisian oasis (Fatnassa, Southern Tunisia). The study’s aim was to compare the effect of two amendment types: (i) sand (S) mixed with farm manure (M) and bentonite clay (B) (=BSM) and (ii) sand mixed with farm manure (SM) on the soil characteristics and morphological features of date palm. The results indicated that soil macro- and micronutrient contents were enhanced under BSM. Soil water retention in BSM also increased to 290 ± 0.3 mm m−1 compared to 70 ± 0.2 and 50 ± 0.5 mm m−1 for an untreated (no amendment) and SM treatment, respectively. The amelioration of morphological characteristics was observed for the canopy diameter reaching 226 ± 0.6 cm in BSM treatment compared to 172 ± 0.6 cm in untreated palm trees. The height of the palms increased by 69 ± 0.8 cm from 29 ± 0.1cm in the control treatment, and leaf number increased from 40 leaves palm−1 in BS to 60 leaves palm−1 in BSM treatment. The leaf mineral content was significantly been improved in the third year, and the leaf NPK contents were 220 ± 0.6 mg kg−1, 17 ± 0.1 mg kg−1, and 200 ± 0.04 mg kg−1, respectively, in BSM treatments. The effect of the farm manure and bentonite clay was noticeable for the yield production, and the SM and BSM treatments offered yields of 70 ± 0.9 kg palm−1 and 80 ± 0.5 kg palm−1, respectively. It could partly ameliorate the alternate year bearing phenomenon of the Deglet Nour date variety. We conclude that the joint application of farm manure and bentonite clay does represent a viable option to further improve the production and resilience of date palms in dryland areas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Arid Regions Institute (IRA), 4119, Medenine, Tunisia

    Nissaf Karbout, Mohamed Moussa & Habib Bousnina

  2. Institute of Bio- and Geosciences, Agrosphere (IBG-3), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52428, Jülich, Germany

    Rawan Mlih & Roland Bol

  3. Regional Center for Research in Oasian Agriculture, 2260 Deguache, Tunisia

    Dhaouidi Latifa

  4. School of Natural Sciences, Environment Centre Wales, Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DG, UK

    Roland Bol

  5. Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Tunis El Manar, 2092, Tunis, Tunisia

    Nadhem Brahim

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  1. Nissaf Karbout
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  2. Rawan Mlih
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  3. Dhaouidi Latifa
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Correspondence to Nissaf Karbout.

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Responsible editor: Amjad Kallel

This paper was selected from the 2nd Conference of the Arabian Journal of Geosciences (CAJG), Tunisia 2019

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Karbout, N., Mlih, R., Latifa, D. et al. Farm manure and bentonite clay amendments enhance the date palm morphology and yield. Arab J Geosci 14, 818 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-021-07160-w

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