Can biostimulant usage with farmyard manure increase soil quality in conventionally managed croplands?

Conventional practices decrease soil health and accelerate soil degradation. This work tests biostimulants extracted from the lumbripost in a maize production system. The experiment was conducted in a semi-humid environment on Stagnosols in Croatia in 2018 and 2019. Besides biostimulants, other treatments were farmyard manure (40 t ha-1) - FYM, biostimulant + FYM, and control. Bulk density and aggregate stability at the end of the experiment are significantly lower at FYM than at control plots. Control plots have significantly lower mean weight diameter of aggregates than other plots. In 2018, CO2 emissions were significantly higher at FYM and biostimulant+FYM in addition to other treatments. In 2019, biostimulant and FYM treatments had significantly higher CO2 emissions than control. Maize yields were significantly higher at biostimulant+FYM than at biostimulant and control plots in 2018. During 2019, control plots recorded significantly lower maize grain yields than other treatments. Biostimulants and farmyard manure raise crop yields, increase aggregate size and stability, and reduce bulk density, contributing to better land use management in annual rainfed croplands in Pannonian Croatia.