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Anaerobic digestion is a biological method used to treat organic wastes for bioenergy production and it creates nutrients rich digestate that is used as a soil fertilizer. However, the ability of digestate to improve the productivity of desert soil is not well documented. A pot experiment was conducted to test the efficiency of raw (RM) and anaerobically digested cattle manure (DM) in supporting alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) seeds germination, growth and yield in virgin desert soil. Treatments of combination with urea and biofertilizer (local rhizobium strain) (BF) were also used beside the untreated soil as a control, and the application rate of fertilizers was corresponded to 150 kg Tot N ha−1. During the experiment, final germination percentage (FGP %), germination index (GI), a total number of plant stems (TS), plant height, deficiency symptoms, number of nodules (NN), dry biomass of shoot, root, and total biomass were all assessed. The results showed that the application of DM and RM increased all parameters as compared with the control treatment. In comparison with other treatments, DM gave the highest germination, lower deficiency symptoms, taller plants, increased TS, increased NN and biomass yield (i.e., root, shoot and total biomass). Furthermore, combination with urea reduced all measured parameters in comparison with RM and DM sole treatments. It was concluded that the best management for improving alfalfa growth and yield at the cultivation in virgin desert soil is to apply anaerobically digested cattle manure as a soil fertilizer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effect of time interval between sowing and amendment with non-digested and digested poultry manure and their combinations with urea on the germination of three wheat cultivars (Slambo, Acsad, and Karim) in the desert soil.Methods: The cultivars were sown on four different dates, i.e. directly, 10, 20 and 30 days after amendment. Fertilizers were applied at a rate of 350 kg Tot N ha−1. The germinated seeds were recorded daily starting at day 4 after sowing until day 14 after which the following germination attributes were calculated: time to reach 50% germination (T50%), final germination percentage (FGP) and germination index (GI). Additionally, radicle length, plumule length and seedling dry weight were also determined.Results: Sowing near to the application delayed and reduced seeds germination particularly in the treatments amended with non-digested and digested manure in combination urea. This was confirmed by all germination attributes, i.e. high values of T50% and low values of FGP and GI. Moreover, sowing near to the application reduced the length of plumule and radicle as well as decreased seedling dry weight of all wheat cultivars.Conclusion: Results suggested that prolonging the period between amendments and sowing to 20 or 30 days would give better germination attributes and increase plumule and radicle length plus increasing seedling dry weight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]