Abstract:The paper addresses the effect of a compost prepared from tobacco wastes with an admixture of bark and straw on the enzymatic activity and certain chemical properties of a grey-brown podzolic soil amended with that compost.The study was conducted under the conditions of a pot experiment in which the soil material was collected from the surface horizon of the grey-brown podzolic soil. The effect of the application of the compost was compared with soil without such amendment. The test plant was maize cv. Kosmo 230. Fertilisation of the light soil with the compost studied caused changes in the enzymatic activity of the soil that were related both to the dose of the compost and to the kind of enzyme studied. With increase in the dose of the compost there was an increase in dehydrogenase activity (highest dose) and a signifi cant decrease in the activity of acid phosphatase. Moreover, it was observed that tobacco compost was a signifi cant source that enriched the light soil in organic matter, total nitrogen, and available forms of phosphorus, magnesium and potassium, which was evident in increased yields of maize grown as the test plant.Signifi cant correlations were also demonstrated between a majority of the biochemical and chemical parameters, which indicates that those parameters characterise well the biological properties of a grey-brown podzolic soil amended with tobacco compost.

Tobacco dust colonization by soil fungi involves the succession of physiologically differentiated groups. They are characterized by poorly diversified species composition and are dominated by potentially phytopathogenic forms.

The effect of tobacco dust and composts containing those wastes on soil fungi was determined. It was found that crude tobacco dust, as opposed to composts, acted selectively making the species composition of soil fungal populations poor and changing the interrelations of potentially antagonistic and phytopathogenic fungi.