Influence of Farm Compost on Soil Quality and Crops Yields

The application of compost can contribute to agricultural sustainability as continuous and adequate use of compost with proper management has been shown to have many advantages, which include providing a whole array of nutrients to soils, increasing soil organic matter (SOM), improving water holding capacity and other physical properties of soil like bulk density, penetration resistance and soil aggregation (Wells et al., 2000), increasing beneficial soil organisms, reducing plant pathogens and showing a beneficial effect on the growth of a variety of plants (Montemurro et al., 2006). Farm compost (FC) is made of ingredients which are available on the farm like wood chips and bark, manure, slurry, straw, crop residues, a surplus of grass and soil (Leroy, 2008).