Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
com
a,*
, M. Pell b, K. Svensson
a
Department of Public Technology, Malardalen University, Box 883, SE-721 23 Vasteras, Sweden
Department of Microbiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7025, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
Abstract
A 4-year eld trial was established in eastern Sweden to evaluate the eects of organic waste on soil chemical and microbiological variables. A simple crop rotation with barley and oats was treated with either compost from household waste, biogas residue from household
waste, anaerobically treated sewage sludge, pig manure, cow manure or mineral fertilizer. All fertilizers were amended in rates corresponding
to 100 kg N ha1 year1. The eects of the dierent types of organic waste were evaluated by subjecting soil samples, taken each autumn 4
weeks after harvest, to an extensive set of soil chemical (pH, Org-C, Tot-N, Tot-P, Tot-S, P-AL, P-Olsen, K-AL, and some metals) and
microbiological (B-resp, SIR, lSIR active and dormant microorganisms, PDA, lPDA, PAO, Alk-P and N-min) analyses. Results show that
compost increased pH, and that compost as well as sewage sludge increased plant available phosphorus; however, the chemical analysis
showed few clear trends over the 4 years and few clear relations to plant yield or soil quality. Biogas residues increased substrate induced
respiration (SIR) and, compared to the untreated control amendment of biogas residues as well as compost, led to a higher proportion
of active microorganisms. In addition, biogas residues increased potential ammonia oxidation rate (PAO), nitrogen mineralization capacity
(N-min) as well as the specic growth rate constant of denitriers (lPDA). Despite rather large concentrations of heavy metals in some of the
waste products, no negative eects could be seen on either chemical or microbiological soil properties. Changes in soil microbial properties
appeared to occur more rapidly than most chemical properties. This suggests that soil microbial processes can function as more sensitive
indicators of short-term changes in soil properties due to amendment of organic wastes.
2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Organic waste can be a valuable and inexpensive soil
conditioner and source of plant nutrients, and positive
eects of organic waste on soil have been reported in several studies. For example, organic waste application can
increase soil nitrogen and phosphorous contents (Jakobsen, 1995), improve soil structure and water holding capacity (Joshua et al., 1998), increase microbial biomass
(Leifeld et al., 2002; Jedidi et al., 2004), reduce the need
for chemical weed control (Pinamonti, 1998) and suppress
plant diseases (Hoitink and Boehm, 1999).
0956-053X/$ - see front matter 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2007.06.005
1247
two rates: C100 and C50, and BR100 and BR50, respectively. In C100 and BR100, all N originated from the
organic waste, whereas in C50 and BR50 half of the N
was supplied as mineral N. Anaerobically treated sewage
sludge (SS), pig manure (PM) and cow manure (CM) were
all complemented with 50 kg mineral N ha1 year1. Other
plots had solely mineral fertilizer (NPS) applied at
100 kg N ha1 year1. The reason for using NPS instead
of NPK, was that the soil in the eld experiment is rich
in potassium but poor in sulphur. In addition, there is a
general trend towards lower atmospheric sulphur deposition, which leads to a need for complementary sulphur fertilization. The nitrogen in the mineral fertilizer was 50% in
the NH4 form and 50% in the NO3 form. Unfertilized plots
were used as control. The treatments are summarized in
Table 1, and the actual applied yearly amounts of dry matter and various plant nutrients are given in Table 2. In
order to be able to apply the results to real agricultural systems, the dierent types of manure were applied according
to general farming practice in Sweden. Therefore, compost,
sewage sludge and cow manure were spread a few days
before ploughing in late autumn. Biogas residues and pig
manure were spread on the seedlings immediately before
stem elongation. Mineral fertilizers were applied in spring
at sowing. Compost, sludge, cow manure and mineral fertilizer were applied by hand from a bucket as evenly as possible. Biogas residue and pig manure were spread by hand
with a watering can.
The compost was produced at the municipal composting
plant at Vasteras, close to the study site. Source separated
household waste (70%) was mixed with chopped park and
garden litter (30%) before composting. The biogas residue
was obtained from a biogas plant in Stockholm where
source-separated household waste is co-digested with food
residues from restaurants and kitchens. The sewage sludge
was taken from the municipal wastewater treatment plant
in the city of Vasteras. The plant treats sewage from
118,000 p.e. yielding 12,000 tonnes dewatered (25% d.m.)
sludge per year. Inuent raw wastewater is pre-precipitated
with iron sulphate, biologically treated by an activated
sludge process with pre-denitrication supported with glycol as external carbon and energy source. Excess sludge is
anaerobically digested to reduce its volume, make the
product hygienic and produce biogas. The pig and cow
manure was collected from local farmers.
1248
Table 1
The dierent treatments used in the ORC eld experiment
Treatment
Residue/fertilizer
N in organic
fertilizer
(kg ha1 year1)
Applied N in mineral
fertilizer (kg ha1 year1)
C100
C50
BR100
BR50
SS
PM
CM
NPS
Control
Compost
Compost + mineral N
Biogas residues
Biogas residues + mineral N
Sewage sludge + mineral N
Pig manure + mineral N
Cow manure + mineral N
NPS
No fertilizer
100
50
100
50
50
50
50
0
0
0
50
0
50
50
50
50
100
0
6 November to 3 December
6 November to 3 December
16 June to 29 June
16 June to 29 June
6 November to 3 December
16 June to 29 June
6 November to 3 December
25 April to 20 May
the samples were dried slowly at +2 C to a dry matter content of 83%. For biological analyses each sample was sieved
(5 mm), thoroughly mixed and portioned in polythene bags
for the dierent analyses. The samples were stored at
20 C and all analyses were performed within 13 months
of the sampling date (Stenberg et al., 1998). All biological
tests were run in triplicate. For ammonium and nitrate
analyses, the samples were frozen moist at arrival to the
laboratory whereas for the remaining chemical analyses,
the samples were dried (35 C) and sieved (2 mm).
2.4. Chemical and physical analyses
Total soil carbon (Tot-C), nitrogen (Tot-N) and sulphur
(Tot-S) were determined after combustion at 1250 C with
a carbon, nitrogen and sulphur analyzer (CNS-2000,
LECO Equipment Corp., St. Joseph, MI, USA). Tot-C
was corrected for carbonate to give organic C (Org-C).
Mineral N (NH4-N and NO3-N) was analyzed with dialysis
on an AutoAnalyzer TRAACS 800 (Kontram, Stockholm,
Sweden). NH4-N was analyzed according to the method
ST9002-NH4D and NO3-N according to the method
ST9002-NO3D. Organic N was measured by the Kjeldahl
method (Bremner and Mulvaney, 1982). Available P
(P-AL) and K (K-AL) were extracted with the ammonium
lactate method (AL) and analyzed as described by Egner
et al. (1960). Available P (P-Ols) was also analyzed according to the method described by Olsen et al. (1954). Total
cation-exchange capacity (CEC) and total exchangeable
base cations (TEB) were determined according to Nommik
(1974). The pH was determined in 0.01 M CaCl2 with the
vol/vol ratio 1:2 (pHCaCl2). Total sulphur (Tot-S) and the
metals Cu, Zn, Cd, Ni, Pb and Cr were analyzed by ICPAES (Perkin-Elmer ICP Optima 3000) according to SS
02 83 11 (SIS, 1997). The particle size distribution was
determined according to Jung (1987).
2.5. Microbiological analysis
Microbial biomass measured as substrate induced respiration (SIR), specic growth rate (lSIR) and the basal
where dp/dt is the rate of CO2 formation, r is the initial respiration rate of growing microorganisms, l is the specic
growth rate, and t is the time after addition of the SIR substrate. Hence, relt is the CO2 production rate of exponentially growing microorganisms and K is the production
rate of non-growing microorganisms. The SIR rate is dened as the sum of r and K, i.e., the total respiration rate
obtained instantaneously on the addition of the SIR substrate. Thus, by use of the equation, the SIR response after
addition of glucose can be divided into the initial respiration rate of growing (active) and non-growing (dormant)
microorganisms. Altogether, the method yields a quantitative estimation of the active and dormant microorganisms,
as well as the parameters SIR and lSIR.
The potential ammonia oxidation rate (PAO) in 25 g of
soil was assayed as accumulated nitrite according to the
short-incubation chlorate-inhibition technique described
by Belser and Mays (1980) and modied by Torstensson
(1993); ISO 15685 (2004). The rate of NO
2 formation
was determined by linear regression.
The potential denitrication activity (PDA) was assayed
in 25 g of soil according to the modied short incubation
C2H2-inhibition method described by Pell et al. (1996).
The assay substrate contained 2 mM glucose and 2 mM
KNO3. During the assay, seven gas samples were
1249
Table 2
Application rates of dry matter, total carbon, plant nutrients and heavy metals in the eld experiment
kg ha1 year1
C50
C100
BR50
BR100
SS
PM
CM
NPS
Dry matter
Tot-C
Org-N
NH4-N
NO3-N
Supplemental mineral N
P-Olsen
P-AL
K-AL
Tot-P
Tot-S
Cua
Zna
Cda
Nia
Pba
Cra
2520
565
47
0
3
50
0.5
5.9
20
11
6.7
170
520
1
22
58
40
5040
1130
94
0
6
0
0.9
11.8
39
22
13.4
340
1030
2.1
44
120
81
287
103
20
30
0
50
2.1
2.3
21
3.5
2.2
17
57
0.1
3
3
7
575
207
39
61
0
0
4.3
4.7
42
6.9
4.3
35
110
0.2
6
5
13
1335
324
42
8
0
50
0.4
6
1
37
12
433
620
0.9
15
21
18
559
203
14
36
0
50
12
13
34
22
8
140
631
0.3
4
1
17
2252
743
43
7
0
50
5
11
68
17
10
76
415
0.4
7
4
6
366
0
0
50
50
100
14.8
15.4
0.8
20
13.7
1
9
0.04
3
0.2
12
Total carbon (Tot-C), organic nitrogen (Org-N), ammonium (NH4-N) and nitrate (NO3-N), available P (P-Olsen), available P (P-AL), available K
(K-AL), total P (Tot-P), total S (Tot-S). The values represent mean values for 4 years (n = 4). For treatment abbreviations, see Table 1.
a
Expressed as g ha1 year1.
3. Results
3.1. Organic fertilizers
Selected characteristics of the fertilizers used in this
study are presented in Table 2. More than half of the nitrogen content of the biogas residue occurred as ammonium,
whereas only small amounts of mineral nitrogen, mainly
nitrate, were found in compost. In sewage sludge, pig manure and cow manure, the mineral nitrogen was present as
ammonium. Biogas residues contained small amounts of
both total phosphorous (Tot-P) and plant available phosphorous (P-AL), whereas sewage sludge was high in TotP but low in P-AL. High concentrations of plant available
potassium (K-AL) were found in all organic fertilizers
except sewage sludge. The compost contained large concentrations of all heavy metals analyzed, especially Zn
and Pb. Sewage sludge contained large amounts of Cu.
Plots amended with compost as the sole fertilizer exceeded
the Swedish Environmental Protection Agencys threshold
values for all heavy metals, whereas plots amended with
sewage sludge exceeded the threshold value for Cu. Since
the application rate was based on nitrogen supply, the
dry matter applied in the compost-amended plots was
nearly nine times higher than the biogas residue-amended
plots and twice as high as the sewage sludge-amended
plots.
1250
3.2. Statistics
The soil nutrient, metal and microbial properties prior
to the start of the experiment are shown in Table 3. The
values represent mean values for the entire experiment
area, i.e., mean values of all plots (n = 36). The CV-values
indicate only a small spatial variation at the site, and hence
treatment-eects should not be obscured by intrinsic
variation.
Analyses with ANOVA showed no signicant dierences between the years and no interactions between treatment and year. Also, there was no signicant dierence
between years 1 and 4. Therefore, the accumulated eects
(Table 4) are presented as mean values for all 4 years
(n = 16). This has the advantage that eects of extreme
meteorological conditions during specic years are
avoided. Data interpretation was supported by Tukey
HSD (p = 0.10). A relatively high probability value was
chosen because a eld experiment always involves a high
risk of environmental disturbances where rainfall, drought,
temperature, etc. may obscure treatment eects. Therefore,
in order to be able to more accurately detect changes due to
the dierent treatments, the signicance level was set to
p = 0.10.
3.3. The crop
Crop yields and grain quality in the ORC-experiment
are discussed in detail in Svensson et al. (2004). Crop yield
data is summarized in Table 4.
3.4. Soil chemical properties
The results of all chemical analyses are presented in
Table 4. Signicant dierences between the treatments
could only be detected for three of the soil chemical analyses made. C100 and PM resulted in a small, though significant, increase in pH by approximately 0.2 units compared
to NPS and the untreated control. C100 and SS increased
the level of P-AL in the soil by about 20% compared to
BR50, NPS and the control treatment. Although not significant, a trend of increasing P-AL concentrations was
observed in C50 and BR100. K-AL was about 9% larger
in plots applied with C50, C100, PM, CM and BR100 compared to the NPS and untreated control.
3.5. Soil microbiological properties
The results of all microbiological analyses are presented
in Table 4. None of the fertilizers had any clear eects on
B-resp, but BR50 and BR100 increased substrate-induced
respiration (SIR) by about 11% compared to the untreated
control. Generally, the SIR response consisted of a biomass
with about 90% dormant and 10% active organisms. Compared with the untreated control, the proportion of active
biomass was about 25% higher in C50, BR50, PM and
NPS, but was only slightly larger in C100 and SS. The dor-
1251
Table 3
Descriptive statistics (maximum, minimum, mean, median and CV) for various soil properties for the experimental site prior to the experiment (n = 36)
Parameter
Range
Mean
Median
CV
Minimum
Maximum
Chemical analysis
pH
Org-C (%)
Tot-C (%)
Tot-N (%)
Tot-P (g kg1 dw)
Tot-S (g kg1 dw)
P-AL (mg 100 g1 dw)
P-Olsen (mg 100 g1 dw)
K-AL (mg 100 g1 dw)
TEB (mekv 100 g1)
CEC (mekv 100 g1)
Cu (mg kg1 dw)
Zn (mg kg1 dw)
Cd (mg kg1 dw)
Ni (mg kg1 dw)
Pb (mg kg1 dw)
Cr (mg kg1 dw)
5.4
1.2
1.2
0.1
0.6
0.2
3.4
1.7
16.5
10.0
15.8
22.1
81.6
0.2
20.0
19.1
34.2
5.7
1.6
1.6
0.2
0.7
0.2
5.4
2.9
21.0
12.6
20.2
31.3
98.4
0.3
28.5
23.3
42.2
5.6
1.3
1.3
0.1
0.7
0.2
4.6
2.2
18.5
11.2
17.1
25.7
90.3
0.3
24.0
20.4
37.2
5.6
1.3
1.3
0.1
0.7
0.2
4.8
2.2
18.5
11.2
16.8
26.0
91.6
0.3
23.8
20.4
36.6
1.4
6.3
6.1
6.3
6.3
4.3
13.0
10.6
6.1
6.0
5.3
9.5
5.9
6.0
11.2
3.9
51.2
37.0
24.0
11.0
13.0
49.0
29.0
18.0
19.0
42.1
26.5
14.6
15.5
41.5
27.0
15.0
15.0
7.4
4.9
12.9
10.6
Microbial analysis
B-resp (lg CO2-C g1 dw h1)
SIR (lg CO2-C g1 dw h1)
lSIR (min1)
PDA (ng N2O-N g1 dw min1)
lPDA (min1)
PAO (ng NO2-N g1 dw min1)
Alk-P (lmol PNP g1 dw h1)
1
N-min (lgNH
dw 10 d1)
4 -N g
1.2
11.4
0.12
7.1
0.002
1.6
1.1
19.1
0.7
15.4
0.16
11.5
0.005
3.9
1.8
24.0
0.9
13.4
0.15
9.1
0.004
2.9
1.5
24.4
0.9
13.5
0.15
8.9
0.004
2.8
1.5
21.2
12.9
6.4
11.6
18.2
17.2
9.3
7.2
Total carbon (Tot-C), total N (Tot-N), total exchangeable base cations (TEB), cation exchange capacity (CEC), basal respiration (B-resp), substrateinduced respiration (SIR), growth rate constant (lSIR), potential denitrication activity (PDA), growth rate constant (lPDA), potential ammonia
oxidation (PAO), alkaline phosphatase activity (Alk-P), N-mineralization capacity (N-min). For additional abbreviations, see Table 2.
dw, dry weight.
1252
Table 4
Soil chemical and microbiological characteristics and crop yield after fertilizer amendment
C50
pH
Org-C (%)
Tot-N (%)
Tot-P (g kg1 dw)
Tot-S (g kg1 dw)
P-AL (mg 100 g1 dw)
P-Olsen (mg 100 g1 dw)
K-AL (mg 100 g1 dw)
Cu (mg kg1 dw)
Zn (mg kg1 dw)
Cd (mg kg1 dw)
Cr (mg kg1 dw)
Ni (mg kg1 dw)
Pb (mg kg1 dw)
B-resp (lg CO2-C g1 dw h1)
SIR (lg CO2-C g1 dw h1)
lSIR (min1)
Non-growers (lg CO2-C g1 dw h1)
Growers (lg CO2-C g1 dw h1)
PDA (ng N2O-N g1 dw min1)
lPDA (min1)
PAO (ng NO2-N g1 dw min1)
Alk-P (lmol PNP g1 dw h1)
1
N-min (lg NH
dw 10 d1)
4 -N g
1
1
Yield (kg ha year )
5.7
1.3
0.13
0.74
0.20
4.5
2.1
19.8b
29.0
101.1
0.26
37.8
23.1
20.5
0.23
3.4
0.16
2.9
0.45bc
9.9
0.25
4.2
1.6
18.9
2532.5bc
BR50
5.7
1.3
0.1
0.7
0.2
4.0a
2.0
19.3
28.2
98.2
0.3
36.5
22.6
20.2
0.2
3.5b
0.2
3.0
0.5c
9.3
0.3
4.1
1.6
18.6
2666.7bc
SS
5.7
1.3
0.1
0.8
0.2
4.8bc
2.2
19.5
28.5
99.2
0.3
37.6
23.4
20.3
0.2
3.4
0.2
3.0
0.4
9.6
0.3
4.0
1.6
19.0
2699.4bc
PM
CM
bc
5.7
1.3
0.1
0.7
0.2
4.4ab
2.1
19.8b
28.6
99.4
0.3
37.2
23.1
20.3
0.2
3.4
0.2
3.0
0.5bc
9.8
0.3
4.1
1.6
18.7
2704.7bc
5.7
1.3
0.1
0.7
0.2
4.5
2.1
20.6b
28.6
98.8
0.3
36.7
23.0
20.4
0.2
3.4
0.2
3.0
0.4
8.7
0.3
3.9
1.5
20.5c
2597.0bc
NPS
C100
a
5.6
1.3
0.1
0.7
0.2
4.0a
2.0
18.4a
26.4
93.4
0.2
35.2
20.8
19.8
0.2
3.2
0.2
2.8a
0.5bc
9.0
0.2a
3.6a
1.5
18.2ab
2798.9c
5.7
1.3
0.1
0.8
0.2
5.0c
2.2
20.3b
28.1
97.9
0.3
36.5
22.5
19.7
0.2
3.3
0.2
3.0
0.3ab
9.5
0.3
4.3
1.6
19.1
1946.8ab
BR100
Control
5.7
1.3
0.1
0.8
0.2
4.4
2.1
20.1b
29.2
101.3
0.3
37.7
23.6
21.0
0.2
3.6b
0.2
3.2b
0.4
9.2
0.3b
4.4b
1.7
19.3bc
2272.5
5.6ab
1.2
0.1
0.7
0.2
4.0a
2.0
18.4a
26.6
93.8
0.2
35.8
21.5
19.7
0.2
3.1a
0.2
2.8a
0.3a
8.7
0.2
4.0
1.5
17.2a
1593.4a
Means calculated as mean values over 4 years (n = 16). For abbreviations, see Tables 13. Statistically signicant dierences (Tukey p = 0.10) are indicated
by dierent letters.
5. Conclusions
Although the experimental period included 4 years of
nitrogen and organic matter supply of very dierent qualities, surprisingly few signicant dierences in chemical and
microbiological properties could be observed. The most
prominent eect was that biogas residues increased the
substrate induced respiration, the proportion of active
microorganism, and the nitrogen mineralization, as well
as potential ammonia oxidation. In all, studying microbial
parameters seems to be a better choice than chemical
1253