Abstract
Most of plastic film house plots in Korea have salinity problems caused by salt accumulations associated with continuous cropping including the heavy applications of chemical fertilizers, and high evapotranspiration. The objective of this study was to investigate soil properties and watermelon (Citrullus lanatus Thunb.) productivity in plastic film houses as influenced by the short-term crop rotation in the continuous watermelon-cultivated soils. The short-term rotational crops selected were corn, Chinese cabbage, radish, young radish, lettuce, spinach, and onion. Soil pH increased in most plots where a short-term crop was added to the crop rotation, except where radish was added. The content of soil organic matter significantly decreased in the lettuce-cultivated plot. The available phosphorus content in the soils increased with the cultivations of spinach and onion. Exchangeable Ca and Mg tended to increase in most of plots where a short-term rotational crop was grown, whereas the exchangeable K was clearly reduced by more than 50% in the same plots. Cultivation of rotational crops during the post-harvest season significantly decreased the electrical conductivity (EC) and the concentrations of soluble anions, such as chloride ($Cl^-$), nitrate ($NO_3{^-}$), and sulfate ($SO{_4}^{2-}$) in the soils. In particular, the EC decrease was related with the decrease in soil $K^+$ to $Ca^{2+}$ and $Mg^{2+}$ ratio. In all plots cultivated with the shot-term rotational crops, the ratios of bacteria to fungi (B/F) increased. However, the improvement in soil properties after adding a rotational crop did not result in a clear improvement in watermelon quantity or quality as measured by fruit weight and sugar content. Therefore, the addition of short-term rotational crops to a continuous watermelon cropping system would be beneficial to improve target soil properties in plastic film house plots studied.
수박을 7년간 연작한 시설재배지 토양을 개선하기 위해 수박후작물로 옥수수, 배추, 무, 총각무, 상추, 시금치, 및 양파를 재배한 후 토양특성과 수박의 생산성 및 품질의 변화를 조사하였다. 토양 pH는 무를 제외한 모든 후작물 재배지 토양에서 증가하였고, 토양 중 유기물 함량은 후작물 재배구에서 감소하는 경향을 보였으며 특히 상추 재배구에서 현저하게 감소하였고, 유효인산 함량은 시금치, 양파 재배구에서 증가하는 경향을 보였다. 치환성 Ca 및 Mg은 대부분의 후작물 재배구에서 증가하는 경향을 보였으나, 치환성 K은 후작물 재배 후 50% 이상 현저히 감소하였다. 또한 수용성 음이온($Cl^-$, $NO_3{^-}$, $SO{_4}^{2-}$)과 EC는 모든 후작물 재배구에서 감소하였다. 특히 EC의 감소는K와 Ca+Mg의 비율의 감소에 의한 영향으로 보여진다. 모든 후작물 재배구에서 Bacteria/Fungi 비율이 재배전보다 증가하였으며, 수박의 고사주율은 모든 후작물 재배구에서 대조구보다 낮게 나타났으나, 수박의 생산성 및 품질에 있어 후작물 재배의 영향은 뚜렷하게 나타나지 않았다. 그러므로 시설수박 연작지에서 단기윤작의 적용은 토양의 문제점을 개선하는데 있어 효과적인 방법이라고 생각된다.
