Effect Of The Application Of Sweet Sorghum Bagasse Compost On Some Properties Of A Degraded Sandy Soil.

The progressive decrease of the soil organic matter levels in Mediterranean areas has been accelerated in the last half of this century. This situation has to be solved in order to avoid agricultural and environmental problems in these areas. Compost addition to the soil helps in the organic matter increase as well as in the improvement of its physical and chemical characteristics.In this context, the main objective of the present work is focused to study the effect that compost addition produces on some physic-chemical characteristics of a marginal soil.A 3-years plot experiments were performed to determine the possible persistence of the positive effects of treating soil with compost. For this purpose, a sweet sorghum bagasse compost has been used. Experiments were achieved with Sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) vr. Dale as energy crop.Results obtained show that the addition of compost to the soil produces an increase of soil organic matter in plots with compost, while in the case of plots amended with mineral fertilizer the initial value of organic matter is decreased. An increase of water retention as well as a light decrease of pH with respect to the control (mineral fertilization) has been observed.