Compost and its application in Egypt

A field experiment was conducted at Agricultural Experimental and Research Station, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt in the two summer successive seasons 2008 and 2009. The present work aims to study the response of snap bean to different rates of compost and time of application in comparison with two different sources of inorganic fertilizers. The experiment included 8 treatments, the recommended mineral fertilizer (MF) as a control, Natural fertilizer (NF), i.e. 4, 6 and 8 tons of compost as organic sources were applied once through soil preparation (O). These treatments were applied at two equal splits at soil preparation and 30 days after sowing (S). The same rate of (N: P: K, 50:45:60 kg/ fed) was applied either in MF or NF treatment. The N source in both treatments was ammonium sulfate, super phosphate (P) and potassium sulfate (K) in MF treatment and phosphate rock (P) and natural potassium (K) in NF treatment. Results showed that MF, NF, 4 tons compost O and S treatments produced significantly taller plants in combined over seasons.