Effects of Organic Fertilizer Supply on Soil Properties, Tomato Yield, and Fruit Quality: A Global Meta-Analysis

Abstract

The increased use of chemical fertilizer input in agricultural production and the promotion of sustainable agriculture encourage researchers around the globe to undertake experiments regarding application of organic fertilizers on tomato production. This study aims to amalgamate the comprehensive effects of organic fertilizer application compared with the pure application of chemical fertilizers (100% CF) on soil properties, tomato yield, and fruit quality through meta-analysis. It helps to provide a certain reference for the sustainable development of circular agriculture systems in tomato planting. Articles related to the impact of organic fertilizers on tomato planting were searched on the Web of Science, Science direct, and Google Scholar. A total of 124 documents meeting the Meta-analysis criteria were screened out. A total of 2041 sets of data were screened for soil properties (electrical conductivity, pH, organic matter, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total potassium, ammonium nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, available phosphorus, available potassium, bacteria, fungi, urease, catalase) and tomato yield and quality (nitrate, sugar, lycopene, protein). The normal fitting of the response ratio of each data revealed that all of them satisfied the Gaussian curve, and there was no publication bias. The application of organic fertilizers (the total) compared with 100% CF can increase the yield by 3.48%, acidic soil by (pH < 6) 7.98%, neutral soil by (pH = 6~8) 3.35%, soil organic matter by 24.43%, total nitrogen by 32.79%, total phosphorus by 23.97%, total potassium by 44.91%, available phosphorus by 14.46%, available potassium by 16.21%, soil bacteria by 5.94%, urease by 22.32%, and catalase by 17.68%. The application of organic fertilizers (the total) had no significant effect on ammonium nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, and soil fungi in the soil. After the subgroup analysis, bio-organic fertilizers (BF) can increase tomato yield by 14.15%, reduce soil electrical conductivity by 13.66%, and increase soil catalase activity by 24.55%. Ordinary organic fertilizer (OF) can improve tomato quality, reduce tomato nitrate by 13.02%, and increase sugar by 10.66%, lycopene by 10.78%, total nitrogen by 39.55%, total phosphorus by 29.11%, total potassium by 58.67%, soil bacteria by 6.54%, and urease by 25.41%. Both can increase tomato protein, soil pH, soil available phosphorus, and potassium, but neither can significantly affect the ammonium nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, and soil fungi in the soil. Correlation analysis revealed a significant positive correlation of tomato yield with lycopene, soil electricity conductivity, organic matter, ammonium nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, available phosphorus, and urease. The application of organic fertilizers can improve tomato yield and quality and soil properties more compared with 100% CF. BF have better effects on yield and soil electrical conductivity, whereas tomato quality and soil physical and chemical properties are more effected by OF. Hence, this study provides a pathway for the selection of organic fertilizer in tomato production.