Erosion TTool/Contribution of OM

Technical articles - Erosion TTool - Érosion des sols

Field crops Field crops Erosion TTool

Illustration of the practice of organic matter input within the serious game Erosion TTOOL. Credit: Delphine Hombrouckx

The input of organic matter (OM) allows the recycling of animal and/or plant waste back into the soil. This helps to limit the use of synthetic mineral fertilizers.

Description

Advantages

• Improves the structural stability of soils and, ultimately, their porosity.

• Increases the soil's water retention capacity and its resistance to leaching and lixiviation.

• Promotes biological activity and soil aeration.

Several forms of organic inputs exist from animal or plant origin: composts from manure, plant waste, sludge…

Disadvantages

• Risk of nitrogen hunger.

Advice

• On sandy soils, green waste must be very decomposed to avoid the consumption of nitrogen to the detriment of plants.

• OM can be applied to restore the plot or for simple maintenance (about once every 3 years). Prices will thus vary.

• It is advisable to partner with a livestock farmer to carry out straw/manure exchanges to limit expenses.

• Make sure to comply with the nitrate directives.

• There is a distinction between:
  • Organic amendments which have a high C/N ratio (greater than 8). These include, for example, litters (manure and stabilized compost). Their fertilizing effect is limited but spreads over the medium/long term with mineralization over the 2 to 3 years following the input.
  • Organic fertilizers which have a low C/N ratio (less than or equal to 8). These notably include excrements without litter (slurries and poultry droppings). They have a direct fertilizing effect.

• It is impossible to apply OM on crops of leguminous field crops except in some cases (spreading on alfalfa and grasslands associating grasses-legumes; crops of green and dry beans, peas vegetable and soybean.