Compound Effective Microorganisms Treatment Increases Growth and Yield of Vegetables

Misuse or excessive use of chemical fertilizers cause non-point source pollution in the vegetable production system. Fertilizer is a key factor affecting nutrient absorption and biomass production of vegetables. However, there is little information on the role of Compound Effective Microorganisms (CEM) in vegetable production. In field trials, three fertilizer treatments were used to study their effects on the growth characteristics and quality of lettuce, spinach, and pakchoi. There were five treatments in the experiment including Control Treatment (CK), 0.3% (Mass volume ratio: w/v) of urea: Water (T1), 0.3% (w/v) of compound fertilizer: Water (T2), CEM fertilizer was diluted to 1: 1,000 (CEM fertilizer: Water, Volume ratio: v/v) before application (T3), 1: 500 (CEM fertilizer: Water, v/v) (T4), 1: 100 (CEM fertilizer: Water, v/v) (T5). Ten representative plants were selected for each treatment to measure plant growth performance. Compared with the control, the plant height gradually increased after applying fertilizer during the entire growth period of the plant. Total leaf chlorophyll concentration of the CEM treatment was also significantly higher than the control treatments. CEM led to an increase in leaf area and leaf number. The effect of EM fertilizer on vegetable growth and yield was studied. In T4 treatment, spinach had the highest plant fresh yield, which was 15.60 g plant^-1. Under different fertilizer treatments, the yield of pakchoi varied greatly, while under T5 treatment, the yield of pakchoi increased significantly. The maximum yield of pakchoi in T5 treatment was 30.66 g plant^-1. The yield of lettuce in T3 treatment was the highest, 12.32 g plant^-1. CEM could maintain productivity of green vegetable and contained a variety of beneficial bacteria. The cultivation of EM increased the yield of plants and increased the growth of vegetables. In conclusion, these results showed that vegetables could produce high yield and high quality through CEM management.