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Concentrated biogas slurry enhanced soil fertility

and tomato quality
a a a a a
Fang-Bo Yu , Xi-Ping Luo , Cheng-Fang Song , Miao-Xian Zhang & Sheng-Dao Shan
a
Department of Environmental Sciences, Institute of Environmental Technology ,
Zhejiang Forestry University , Linan, Zhejiang Province, China , 311300
Published online: 10 Jul 2009.

To cite this article: Fang-Bo Yu , Xi-Ping Luo , Cheng-Fang Song , Miao-Xian Zhang & Sheng-Dao Shan (2010) Concentrated
biogas slurry enhanced soil fertility and tomato quality, Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section B — Soil & Plant Science,
60:3, 262-268, DOI: 10.1080/09064710902893385

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 Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica Section B
Soil and Plant Science, 2010; 60: 262
268

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Concentrated biogas slurry enhanced soil fertility and tomato quality

FANG-BO YU, XI-PING LUO, CHENG-FANG SONG, MIAO-XIAN ZHANG &

SHENG-DAO SHAN

Department of Environmental Sciences, Institute of Environmental Technology, Zhejiang Forestry University, Linan, Zhejiang
Province, China, 311300
Downloaded by [Northeastern University] at 17:45 11 November 2014

Abstract
Biogas slurry is a cheap source of plant nutrients and can offer extra benefits to soil fertility and fruit quality. However, its
current utilization mode and low content of active ingredients limit its further development. In this paper, a one-growing-
season field study was conducted to assess the effects of concentrated biogas slurry on soil property, tomato fruit quality, and
composition of microflora in both nonrhizosphere and rhizosphere soils. The results showed that application of
concentrated slurry could bring significant changes to tomato cultivation, including increases in organic matter, available
N, P, and K, total N and P, electrical conductivity, and fruit contents of amino acids, protein, soluble sugar, b-carotene,
tannins, and vitamin C, together with the R/S ratios and the culturable counts of bacteria, actinomycetes, and fungi in soils.
It was concluded that the application is a practicable means in tomato production and will better service the-is area of
sustainable agriculture.

Keywords: Biogas fermentation residue, fruit nutrition, microflora, organic manure, soil property, sustainable agriculture.

Introduction low-molecular-mass bioactive substances (e.g.,

Biogas dregs and slurry are by-products of biogas
production generated from cattle dung. These resi-
dues, especially biogas slurry, are a good source of
plant nutrients and can improve soil properties (Smith
& Elliot, 1990; Prasad & Power, 1991; Pathak et al.,
1992; Garg et al., 2005). Owing to the propagation of
household-scale anaerobic digester and biogas plants
in many Asian countries, including China, the amount
of biogas slurry has drastically increased (Angelidaki
& Ellegaard, 2003; Abraham et al., 2007). Nowadays,
there are approximately 16 million households using
anaerobic digesters in China, and the output of slurry
was more than 450 million tons in 2008.What’s more,
China’s 2003
2010 National Rural Biogas Construc-
tion Plan was announced in 2003. The proposal was to
increase biogas use to a total of 20 million households
by 2010. At that time, the projected amount of slurry
produced will soar to about 600 million tons.
Digested slurry contains organic nitrogen (mainly
amino acids), abundant mineral elements, and
hormones, humic acids, vitamins, etc.) (Liu et al.,
2008), and could be used as organic manure in the
sowing season and as a source of water in other
seasons. Seeds submerged in slurry germinate better
and the seedlings grow stronger than those not
subjected to this treatment (Pathak et al., 1992).
Used as a spray for plants, the slurry inhibits disease
and boosts yields (Liu et al., 2007b; Zhao et al.,
2007). Its use as soil amendment offers a promising
win-win opportunity and, at the same time, prevents
adverse environmental impacts of waste disposal
(Garg et al., 2005). Besides, application of biogas
slurry or organic nutrient solutions formulated from
it could indeed improve crop and fruit qualities
(Yu et al., 2006; Liu et al., 2007a; Liu et al., 2008).
However, at present there are two major problems
in the utilization of biogas slurry. First, too simple
and large application mode. Traditionally, farmers
just directly sprayed it as organic manure or sub-
merged seeds in it to stimulate their germination

Correspondence: Sheng-Dao Shan, Zhejiang Forestry University, Linan, Zhejiang Province, China, 311300. Fax: 86-571-63740889.
E-mail: shanshd@sina.com
Fang-Bo Yu and Xi-Ping Luo contributed equally to this work.

(Received 22 January 2009; accepted 13 March 2009)

ISSN 0906-4710 print/ISSN 1651-1913 online # 2010 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/09064710902893385
 Concentrated biogas slurry enhanced soil fertility and tomato quality 263

and growth, etc. Although there are commercially
available concentrated biogas slurry-based products
made by conventional evaporation technology, such
as Zhaobao produced by Powered Technology Lim-
ited Liability Company (Wuhan, Hubei Province,
China), the huge energy consumption, ease of
inactivation of active ingredients, and relatively
higher cost seriously restrict their development.
Secondly, the low content of active ingred-
ient. Owing to the majority of slurry being water
(
99%, w/v), its efficacy is rather weak and short-
lived as compared with chemical counterparts. The
effective compensation of soil fertility and control of
crop pests and disease could not be fulfilled by use of
slurry only. What’s more, although there are a few
publications, such as Liu’s (Liu et al., 2008), that
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kg 1, total P 0.29 g kg1 (P2O5), total K 0.22 g
kg 1 (K2O), available K 64.32 mg kg 1, available N
73.97 mg kg 1, available P 24.31 mg kg1, and pH
5.43 in the top 0.10
0.20-m soil layer. Previously,
the field had a one-year cropping history of tomato
production, with a typical double-cropping system.
Concentrated biogas slurry
Biogas slurry was sampled from Banqiao livestock
farm, Linan. Nowadays, there are about 80 cattle
and 12 pigs on site. With a novel biogas slurry-
concentration technique, about 10-or-more-times
concentration effect of the major nutrient para-
meters, such as total N, P, and K, NH4-N, organic
matter, and 10 kinds of metal ions, could be

reported that application of organic nutrient solu-
tions formulated from biogas slurry dilution and
other ingredients (e.g., amino acids, chemical pesti-
cides, Chinese herbal medicines, etc.) is an effective
means for enhancing pesticidal efficacy and soil
fertility, and reducing nitrate concentrations in leafy
vegetables, etc., the establishment of a novel, low-
cost concentration technology still seems to be a key
and should be appreciated.
The objectives of this research are to (1) investi-
gate the feasibility of concentrated biogas slurry as a
nutrient source to cultivate tomato (Lycopersicum
esculentum Mill.), and (2) examine its possible effects
on soil property, tomato fruit quality, and culturable
microflora in rhizosphere and nonrhizosphere soils,
etc. The results obtained from this study will provide
information for better utilization of biogas slurry,
and contribute to the sustainable development of
agriculture.
achieved. Briefly, the biogas slurry was first passed
through a 20-mm stainless steel sieve, and settled in
an 8-m3 plastic tank; and then the effluent was
sequentially passed through a sand filter and a
membrane filter equipped with membranes which
could retain 400
100000 Da molecular-weight sub-
stances. The relevant documents and materials have
been submitted to China’s State Intellectual Prop-
erty Office for an invention patent, the current status
of which is under review with application no.
2008103053062. The concentration effect is shown
in Table I. The samples were analysed in the
National Analytical Centre, Guangzhou, China,
according to the standard methods of the American
Public Health Association (American Public Health
Association, 1995).
Table I. The concentration effect of a novel process analysed in
the National Analytical Centre, Guangzhou, China. The data
were reported as means (n3).

Concentrated
Materials and methods Item Biogas slurry biogas slurry

Site and season Total N (g L 1) 0.069 0.71

Total P (g L 1) 0.048 15.5
Studies were carried out at a research farm (Ping- Total K (g L 1) 0.34 2.1
shan Farm) of the Institute of Environmental NH4 -N (mg L 1) 159 1250
Technology, Zhejiang Forestry University, near the ECa(25 8C) (dS m 1) 6.51 30.3
city of Linan (30.258N latitude, 119.448E long- CODCr (mg L 1) 491 25 400
Na (mg kg1) 110 1074
itude), located in north-west Zhejiang Province. Mg (mg kg 1) 36 434
Linan has a subtropical humid monsoon climate Al (mg kg 1) B1b 2
with an annual precipitation of 1408 mm in 2003 Ca (mg kg 1) 25 526
and 1449 mm in 2007, and a mean annual air Ti (mg kg 1) B1 4.6
temperature of 16.68C with 206 frost-free days. The Mn (mg kg 1) B1 10
Fe (mg kg 1) B1 23
experimental site was level. Cumulative precipitation Zn (mg kg1) B1 8.5
and mean temperature (meteorological data from Rb (mg kg 1) B1 4.8
Linan Atmospheric Administration, Hangzhou) Sr (mg kg 1) B1 7.3
from April to August were 840 mm and 24.28C, Ba (mg kg 1) B1 4.3
respectively, in 2008. The soil of the experimental a
EC: electrical conductivity. bThe result was lower than the limit
sites was a sandy loam (sand 46%, silt 35%, clay of detection of the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
19%) with organic matter 4.64%, total N 0.83 g (ICP-MS).
 264 F.-B. Yu et al.
Experimental design
A field experiment was conducted at 25958C under
natural illumination during March and August of
2008. Tunnels were covered with transparent poly-
ethylene (PE) (0.18 mm thickness) film and kept
open on both sides. Tomatoes (Lycopersicum esculen-
tum Mill., var. Hezuo 903) were first planted on
seedbeds covered with black PE mulch on March 15,
and uniformly irrigated with furrow irrigation.
4-Week-old tomato seedlings (April 16), uniform in
size, were transplanted by hand into each plot on
double rows, 1 m apart between double rows with 0.5
m between plants, and with 2.2 m between seedbed
centres. All tomato seedlings were irrigated after
transplanting, and again at second reviving stage,
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then the differential treatments began. The experi-
ment consisted of four treatments: (1) blank control
(CT); (2) biogas slurry (BS); (3) concentrated biogas
slurry (CBS); and (4) conventional management
(CM). In CT, plants were watered with tap water
only (equivalent conductivity EC 0.5 dS m1) until
harvest. During the whole growing season, the
tomato plants were irrigated several times depending
on weather condition. For BS and CBS, only irriga-
tion water and slurry were applied. The application
amounts of BS were the same as with CBS. The 200

800 mL slurry per plant was applied two or three days
after each irrigation according to the plant’s growth
status. To ensure the total input amounts of N, P, and
K of CM were the same as for CBS, chemical
fertilizers, either three-nutrient compound fertilizer
(N-P-K, 15-15-15) or pilled urea (46%), were
applied following the surveyed results. In total, 3.6
L of concentrated biogas slurry per plant was applied
(8 times). The first application date was 28th April,
2008. The total input amounts of total N, P, and K
per plant were about 2.56, 55.8, and 7.56 g according
to the data listed in Table I. The main growing point
will be picked at the 6th fruit cluster set. Weeds and
pests were controlled as required. In treatment CM,
chlorothalonil, 9 g m 2 on June 12, and Score† ,
0.03% on June 29, were applied to control tomato leaf
mildew disease. All treatments were in a randomized
complete-block design with split-plot arrangements
with three replications. The plot size was 12 square
metres (62 m).
Soil and tomato fruit analysis
Composite soil samples were collected from the
10
20-cm soil layer either before tomato transplan-
tation in April 2008 or at the first harvest. The first
harvest was on July 16 and the last was on August
28. Soil samples were air-dried, ground, and passed
through a 2-mm sieve and used for analysis. Soils
sampled were analysed for organic matter content
(Ryan et al., 2001), pH (McLean, 1982), and
electrical conductivity of the saturation paste (Page
et al., 1982). For determination of N, P, and K from
soil samples, recommended methods (Ryan et al.,
2001) have been followed. Total P and K were
determined using the vanadomolybdophosphoric
acid yellow colour method and flame photometry
(Yoshida et al., 1976), respectively, and total N was
determined by the Tecator (1981) method.
After ripening, tomato fruits with the same position
were picked by hand from an area 4 2 m in each plot
and weighed at every harvest event. Sub-samples of
fruit were sent to the Research Institute of Subtropi-
cal Forestry (Fuyang, Zhejiang Province) within 6 h
for quality analysis. The measured items of fruit
quality were as follows: protein, vitamin C, soluble
sugar, fat, amino acids, nitrate, beta-carotene, and
tannins, analysed according to the previously used
standard methods (Yu et al., 2006). What’s more, the
tomato leaf mildew disease was rated according to the
following scale: 1-light leaf brown, 2-moderate plant
stunting and leaf curling, and 3-severe plant stunting
and leaf curling. The disease index (DI) was calcu-
lated from Equation (1) where ni is the number of
diseased plants in each grade, and N the total number
of plants. Disease was rated at three stages, that is:
vegetative growth, 50% flowering, and fruit matura-
tion.
DI 100(n1 2n2 3n3 )=3N (1)
The data collected were analysed statistically follow-
ing methods described by Steel & Torrie (1980).
Estimation of microflora in soil and rhizosphere zone of
tomato plants
To study the microflora in the rhizosphere zone, the
plants were uprooted with great care to obtain the
intact root system. Rhizosphere soils were sampled
and serial-diluted according to the known methods
(Johnston & Booth, 1993). For counting the number
of fungi, actinomycetes, and bacteria, Martin’s,
Gause’s No. 1, and Nutrient agar media (Martin,
1950; Zhou et al., 2006; Liu et al., 2007b) were
used, respectively. The microorganisms were identi-
fied on the basis of their colonial and morphological
features, i.e., size, elevation, and colour. The average
number of colonies was multiplied by the dilution
factor to obtain the number of colonies per gram dry
weight in the original sample. The rhizosphere soil
was dried at 1058C for 24 h to estimate its dry
weight.
To study the soil microflora apart from the effe-
cts of roots, 10 g of soil in the root-free area of
each treatment were taken and transferred to an
 Concentrated biogas slurry enhanced soil fertility and tomato quality 265
Table III. Effects of additions of different biogas slurries and
Erlenmeyer flask (250 mL) containing 24 mL of
chemical fertilizers on fruit quality.
phosphate buffer (0.01 M, pH 7.4). The microflora
were counted and calculated as mentioned above. Item CT BS CBS CM

Aspartic acid (mg g 1) 15.8b 16.0b 17.1a 14.9c

Statistical analysis Serine (mg g 1) 2.93d 3.09c 3.52a 3.20b
Glutamic acid 34.0c 33.9c 38.2a 35.7b
The software of Data Processing System 2000 (Tang
(mg g 1)
& Feng, 1997) was used for all statistical analyses. Glycine (mg g 1) 3.62b 3.55b 3.96a 3.91a
Mean values were calculated for each of the mea- Histidine (mg g 1) 2.94c 3.12b 3.29a 3.02c
surements, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was Arginine (mg g 1) 5.55b 5.46c 5.89a 5.50b
used to assess the effects on the measured variables, Threonine (mg g 1) 2.75c 2.91b 3.17a 2.90b
Alanine (mg g 1) 3.83c 3.94b 4.17a 3.69d
followed by mean comparison at a probability 55% Proline (mg g 1) 3.03b 2.95b 3.17a 2.98b
of Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT). Cystine (mg g 1) 2.57b 2.61b 2.96a 2.18c
Tyrosine (mg g 1) 2.95b 2.80d 3.03a 3.05a
Valine (mg g 1) 3.71c 4.10b 4.41a 4.14b
Results Methionine (mg g 1) 0.93a 0.88b 0.88b 0.87b
Downloaded by [Northeastern University] at 17:45 11 November 2014

Lysine (mg g 1) 3.65c 3.95b 4.17a 3.21d

Biogas slurry in treatments BS and CBS significantly Isoleucine (mg g 1) 3.77d 4.20b 4.47a 4.12c
improved contents of soil-available N, P, and K, and Leucine (mg g 1) 4.90d 5.15c 5.53a 5.29b
ECs as compared with treatments CT and CM, Phenylalanine 3.94c 4.27b 4.43a 4.49a
while treatment CBS also significantly improved (mg g 1)
Total amino acids 101c 103b 112a 103b
contents of total N and P (Table II). Biogas slurry (mg g 1)
and chemical fertilizer applications (treatments BS, Protein (g kg1) 134c 140b 147a 133c
CBS, and CM) clearly increased electrical conduc- Soluble sugar (%) 3.08c 3.40b 3.74a 2.97c
tivity compared with treatment CT. Available N and Fat (%) 0.12a 0.11a 0.12a 0.12a
Vitamin C (mg g 1) 20.2c 21.0b 22.9a 18.5d
P concentrations of treatments CT and CM are Nitrate (mg g 1) 21.3c 20.2d 25.6a 23.6b
statistically defferent at P B0.05. Compared with the Nitrite (mg g 1) ND ND ND ND1
initial soil sample, sampled on April 12, the organic Tannins (mg g 1) 69.0c 76.2b 97.4a 78.5b
matter contents were improved wby different de- b-Carotene (mg g 1) 52.4c 54.7b 67.9a 51.1c
Fruit weight (g) 114c 123b 121b 132a
grees, and the pH-values of treatments all declined
from 5.43 to 5.22 or so. Besides, the total N and P The data were reported as means (n 10). Data within a row
concentrations of treatment BS were respectively followed by different small letters mean a significant difference at
reduced by 4.82 and 3.45%, demonstrating that P  0.05 by DMRT. CT, applied with tap water only; BS, only
irrigation water and biogas slurry were applied; CBS, only
biogas slurry solution could not fully compensate the irrigation water and concentrated biogas slurry were applied;
change in soil fertility by itself. CM, only irrigation water and three-nutrient compound fertili-
Compared with other treatments, application zer (N-P-K, 15-15-15) or pilled urea (46%) were applied. 1ND:
of concentrated biogas slurry (CBS) significantly not determined. The results were lower than the limit of
detection.
increased contents of 16 kinds of amino acids,
protein, b-carotene, soluble sugar, vitamin C, and
tannins in tomato fruit (Table III), while the con- detection, and no significant difference in fat content
centration of nitrate was also significantly improved was found among treatments. The mean fruit
up to 25.59 mg mg 1. The examined results of weights of treatments CT, BS, and CBS were lower
nitrite concentration were lower than the limit of than that of CM, while its protein, soluble sugar,
Table II. Effects of additions of different biogas slurries and chemical fertilizers on soil properties at 10
20-cm depth in the field experiment
carried out at the Pingshan Farm, Linan.

Available N Available P Available K Total N Total P Organic

Treatment (mg kg 1) (mg kg1) (mg kg 1) (g kg 1) (g kg 1) matter (%) pH EC (s cm 1)

CT 54.8d 12.9c 41.4c 0.56c 0.25c 4.72c 5.21b 89.4c

BS 83.2b 27.4a 66.0b 0.79b 0.28b 5.01b 5.22b 118b
CBS 88.4a 28.1a 69.2a 0.87a 0.30a 5.24a 5.24a 157a
CM 57.8c 14.3b 43.9c 0.60c 0.27b 4.80c 5.22b 113b

The data were reported as means (n 5). Means sharing the same letters in columns are statistically nonsignificant at P  0.05 by DMRT.
CT, applied with tap water only; BS, only irrigation water and biogas slurry were applied; CBS, only irrigation water and concentrated
biogas slurry were applied; CM, only irrigation water and three-nutrient compound fertilizer (N-P-K, 15-15-15) or pilled urea (46%) were
applied.
 266 F.-B. Yu et al.

vitamin C, and b-carotene contents were lowest,
demonstrating that chemial fertilizer application
could effectively improve the tomato production
but not the quality.
In the vegetative growth and 50% flowering stages,
tomato plants did not show symptoms, except for
treatment CT at 50% flowering (data not shown). At
the third stage (fruit maturation), tomato plants
started to develop the disease, and the values of DI
ranged from 1.11 to 11.33. However, no significant
difference was observed in the treatments BS, CBS,
and CM. The rhizosphere microbial counts (R) of all
treatments were clearly higher than their respective
counts (S) in the nonrhizosphere soil (Figure 1). In
CBS, the total counts of three kinds of culturable
microorganisms either in rhizosphere or nonrhizo-
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trated biogas slurry could significantly increase the
soil fertility as compared with other treatments
(Table II), and there is a consistent positive correla-
tion between soil electrical conducitivity (EC) and
soil fertility, but not yield (data now shown).
Traditionally, the agricultural application of soil
electrical conductivity was as a means of measuring
soil salinity (Corwin & Lesch, 2005). Owing to it
being a quick, reliable, and easy-to-take measure-
ment, it is among the most frequently used tools in
agricultural research. Our result presented here is in
accord with the previously reported one (Corwin
et al., 2003). Just as Corwin et al. (2003) had
concluded that because of the influence of soil
properties (e.g., salinity, water content, texture,
etc.) and the poorly captured temporal component

sphere soils were at maximum values at the first
harvest. In addition, the ratios of R and S were
calculated (data not shown). The R/S ratios of biogas
slurry application treatments (BS and CBS) are
obviously higher than those of treatments CT and
CM.
Discussion
It is well known that biogas slurry is a good source of
plant nutrients and can improve crop yield and soil
properties. However, to our knowledge, this is the
first study on the effects of concentrated biogas
slurry application on tomato cultivation. As shown in
Table I, about a 10-or-more-times concentration
effect of the major nutrients was obtained. Among
these, the most enriched item is total P, about
320-fold. Experimental data showed that concen-
of yield variability by only one state variable such as
soil EC, the yield wihin a particular field may or may
not be influenced.
However, more attention should also be paid to
other analysed items, such as Na, Mg, Ca, and Zn
(Table I), due to the potential risk for secondary soil
salinization by long-term successive application (Yao
et al., 2007). Traditionally, in practice, the major
interest in slurry application to soils is its nutritional
value, N in particular, to crops, and its merits in
improving soil physical properties, while its salt
content that could be harmful to crop growth and
soil quality is generally ignored. What’s more, the
environmental behaviour of trace metals (copper,
zinc, arsenic, etc) should also be taken into con-
sideration (L’Herroux et al., 1997; Nicholson et al.,
2003). These metals are essential nutrients and are
required in very small amounts by plants, but their

Figure 1. Effects of additions of different biogas slurries and chemical fertilizers on average total counts of culturable microorganisms per
gram dry soil in rhizosphere and nonrhizosphere soils. The data were reported as means. CFU, colony-forming unit. Data within a cluster
marked with different small letters mean a significant difference at P50.05 based on Duncan’s Multiple Range Test. CT, applied with tap
water only; BS, only irrigation water and biogas slurry were applied; CBS, only irrigation water and concentrated biogas slurry were applied;
and CM, only irrigation water and three-nutrient compound fertilizer (N-P-K, 15-15-15) or pilled urea (46%) were applied.
 Concentrated biogas slurry enhanced soil fertility and tomato quality
accumulation is toxic to plants and microorganisms
(Bolan et al., 2003; Bernhard et al., 2005). There-
fore, a rational crop-rotation system and application
together with inorganic fertilizers are still recom-
mended (Yao et al., 2007), and different application
modes (spraying and root irrigation) should be
further evaluated for better utilization.
There have been concerns over the presence of
nitrates and nitrites in food, especially in vegetables,
as they could be metabolized to potentially carcino-
genic N-nitroso compounds (Penttilä et al., 1990;
Wang & Li, 2003). For this reason, the tomato-fruit
contents of nitrate and nitrite were examined. As
shown in Table III, the nitrate concentrations of
treatments are in the range of 20.2
25.59 mg g1,
which were quite below the limit (432 mg g1)
Downloaded by [Northeastern University] at 17:45 11 November 2014
proposed by FAO/WHO (1998) and safe for human
consumption. Yu et al. (2005) suggested that appli-
cation of biogas slurry could reduce nitrate accumu-
lation in vegetables, and they gave their explanation
as follows: 1) compared with chemical fertilizer, the
biodegradation of organic matter in slurry is a slow
process which is better for nutrient assimilation by
the plant; and 2) this organic matter could accelerate
the soil nitrification process which will lessen the
nitrate accumulation in soil and further decrease
NO3-N uptake. However, several authors, such as
Li et al. (2007), also reported that biogas slurry
application would stimulate both nitrate and salt
accumulation in soil. Our result is not in accord with
the previous two. The nitrate concentrations of CBS
and BS are 25.59 mg g1 and 20.2 mg g1, which
are, respectively, significantly higher and lower than
the others. We suggest that there is an optimal level
of slurry application for low nitrate accumulation in
terms of cost efficiency, which is a topic that needs
further investigation.
Tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill.), which was
domesticated in ancient Peru, has become the most
popular and widely consumed vegetable in the world
today, due to its flavour, nutritional value (high in
vitamins C and A), short growth cycle, and relatively
high yield (Maršić et al., 2005; Ortiz et al., 2007).
However, it also contains a number of antinutritional
factors. Different studies led to the conclusion that
these antinutritional factors (including tannins) may
bind proteins and some essential dietary minerals
and make them unavailable or only partially available
for absorption (Maga, 1982; Welch, 1999). At the
same time, tannins have protective effects against
cancer and cardiovascular diseases (Santos-Buelga &
Scalbert, 2000). For these reasons, the fruit contents
of vitamin C and tannins were examined. The data
indicated that CBS could significantly improve the
concentrations (Table III). Owing to the uncertainty
of the comprehensive effect of tannins on human
267
health, the relevant conclusion could not be easily
drawn at present.
Several authors reported that biogas slurry has
different inhibitory effects on crop pests and patho-
gens (Yu et al., 2006; Zhao et al., 2007). However,
owing to the above-mentioned reasons, they also
suggested that chemical pesticide and fungicide are
still indispensable. In our field trial, no significant
difference was found in the control effects of tomato
leaf mildew disease among treatments CBS, BS, and
CM (data not shown). But, owing to the fact that it
is just the second year for tomato production and the
duration is only one growing season, more field
research should be carried out. What’s more, the
application of slurry greatly influences the micr-
oflora in both nonrhizosphere and rhizosphere soils
(Figure 1). The total culturable microbial counts
and the R/S ratios of CBS and BS are obviously
higher, demonstrating that interactions between
plant and soil microorganisms were activated
(Rovira, 1965).
Acknowledgement
We acknowledge with thanks financial support from
the National ‘‘863’’ High Technology Research
(2006 AA062344).
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