INCUBATION OF PULVERIZED HOUSEHOLD REFUSE WITH SOIL AND SEWAGE SLUDGE, POULTRY MANURE OR (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4

Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis

1993

In the search for an approach which could be used to predict available nitrogen (N) in organic amendments, biological and chemical methods were investigated in laboratory and growth chamber studies. Two biological methods [maize plants (Zea mays L.) grown in pots, and soil-amendment mixtures incubated aerobically at 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, and 16 weeks], and four chemical methods [autoclave, 0.5M potassium permanganate (KMnO 4 ), pepsin, and 6M hydrochloric acid (HCl)] were compared to determine N availability in 36 organic amendments applied to soil. Total N mineralized in a soil amended with different organic amendments ranged from -12 to 428 mg N/kg soil. The highest value was obtained from sludge number 11 and the lowest from cow manure 2, urban refuse, and grape-marc. In general, the aerobically-treated sewage sludges gave higher N-mineralization rates than other amendments. The 6M HCl and autoclave methods were more suitable for predicting N availability in these organic amendments than either the pepsin or KMnO 4 methods. Prediction of N availability in the growth chamber experiments improved if several chemical and biological methods were combined in a multiple regression analysis.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of nitrogen availability in a soil treated with organic amendments

Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis

1993

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“…The results vary widely, because of differences in sewage sludge sources (Beauchamp et al, 1979), treatment processes Germon, 1977, Epstein et al, 1978;Magdoff and Chromec, 1977;Tester et al, 1977), applied rates (Premi and Cornfield, 1969;Ryan et al, 1973), and laboratory procedures employed (Parker and Sommers, 1983). Generally, procedures involving the determination of N mineralized during incubation are considered the most satisfactory ones of methods currently used to calculate N availability indexes (Castellanos and Pratt, 1981a;Loewen-Rudgers et al, 1981;Magdoff and Amadon, 1980;Parker and Sommers, 1983). However, incubation procedures are quite laborious and time-consuming, and therefore, many rapid and convenient chemical extraction procedures providing suitable indexes of N availability have been proposed (Castellanos and Pratt, 1981 b;Magdoff and Amadon, 1980;Parker and Sommers, 1983).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indexes of assessing N availability in sewage sludges

1992

Plant Soil

Biological and chemical methods were used in an attempt to estimate N availability in sewage sludges. The two biological methods, i.e. maize plants grown in pots, and soil-sludge mixtures incubated at 2, 4, 6, 8, 12 and 16 weeks, and the four chemical methods, i.e. autoclave, 0.5 M KMnO4, pepsin and 0.6 M HC1, were compared to determine N availability in twelve sewage sludges in a given soil. In the mineralization test, the aerobically treated sewage sludges gave higher mineralization rates than the anaerobically treated wastes. The simple correlation between available N, estimated from the plant N uptake during 6 weeks and N extracted by chemical methods showed that HCI and pepsin appeared to be the better single indexes. Prediction of availability of N in sewage sludges to plants in the growth chamber improved if N mineralized during the incubation period and extracted by several chemical methods were combined in a multiple regression analysis.

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Comparison of biological and chemical methods to predict nitrogen mineralization in animal wastes

1991

Biol Fertil Soils