Suitable Timing of Compost Application and Its Effectiveness on Mung Bean in the Crop Station of Royal University of Agriculture

Agriculture is one of the main sectors for Cambodian economy since 85% of citizens live in the countryside, and among which 75% are farmers. They use the same soil every year for farming, which causes the soil to become infertile. To solve this problem, adding organic fertilizer is the best method to improve the stability of soil fertility. Compost is one type of organic fertilizers which can be applied to improve soil properties such� as� the� soil's� physical, chemical and biological properties. Because of these reasons, an experiment on suitable timing of compost application and its effectiveness on mung bean was conducted. The experiment aimed to determine which kind of organic fertilizers is appropriate for mung bean growth and yield, and to identify the suitable timing of compost application for the mung bean crop. There were 4 kinds of compost for conducting the experiment: conventional compost, pellet compost, neem conventional compost and neem pellet compost, and two different timings of compost application (one week before seeding and during seeding of mung bean). Plots were designed as randomized complete blocks design (RCBD) with three blocks. In each block there were nine treatments including the control. As a result, there was no significant difference between different timings of compost application (one week before seeding, and while seeding). We had the highest yield by application of neem compost one week before seeding, which was 2.056 t/ha. The next was neem compost during seeding=1.850 t/ha, and the lowest yield was found in the control treatment=1.341 t/ha. According to the results above, application of neem compost one week before seeding is suitable to get higher yield of mung bean though there was not a significant difference between timings of compost application.