The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of different organic residues on soil fertility and climate change, through the evaluation of soil organic matter mineralisation, greenhouse gas emission, nutrient availability and soil microbial biomass content and activity. A degraded agricultural soil was amended with three different organic residues (pig slurry digestate, rapeseed meal, and compost) at three different doses (0.1, 0.25 and 0.5% w/w) and incubated for 30 days at 20 ºC. During incubation, soil CO2 and N2O emissions, K2SO4 extractable organic C, N, NH4+, NO3- and P, soil microbial biomass and some enzymatic activities were determined. Results obtained showed that rapeseed meal and pig slurry are best suited to improve soil chemical and biological fertility, while compost is more appropriate for the enhancement of soil organic matter content and to promote soil C sequestration

Antonia Galvez

Claudio Mondini

Flavio Fornasier

Maria Dolores Mingorance

Maria Luz Cayuela

Tania Sinicco

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  EQA – Environmental quality / Qualité de l’Environnement / Qualità ambientale, 7  (2011) 33-40  DOI: 10.6092/issn.2281-4485/3831   33USE OF ORGANIC RESIDUES FOR THE RECOVERY  OF SOIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY  UTILISATION DE RÉSIDUS ORGANIQUES POUR LA RÉCUPÉRATION DU SOL ET LA DURABILITÉ DE L'ENVIRONNEMENT  UTILIZZO DI RESIDUI ORGANICI PER IL RECUPERO  DEL SUOLO  E LA SOSTENIBILITÀ AMBIENTALE  Antonia Gálvez (1,2) *, Tania Sinicco (1), Maria Luz Cayuela (3),  Maria Dolores Mingorance (2), Flavio Fornasier (1), Claudio Mondini (1)  (1) Gruppo di Ricerca di Gorizia, CRA-RPS, Gorizia, Italy (2) Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (CSIC-UGR), Granada, Spain (3) Departmento de Conservación de Suelos y Agua y Manejo de Residuos Orgánicos. CEBAS (CSIC), Campus Universitario de Espinardo, Murcia, Spain *  Corresponding author: E-mail agalvezp@ugr.es  Summary  The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of different organic residues on soil fertility and climate change, through the evaluation of soil organic matter mineralisation, greenhouse gas emission, nutrient availability and soil microbial biomass content and activity. A degraded agricultural soil was amended with three different organic residues (pig slurry digestate, rapeseed meal, and compost) at three different doses (0.1, 0.25 and 0.5% w/w) and incubated for 30 days at 20 ºC. During incubation, soil CO2 and N2O emissions, K2SO4 extractable organic C, N, NH4+, NO3- and P, soil microbial biomass and some enzymatic activities were determined. Results obtained showed that rapeseed meal and pig slurry are best suited to improve soil chemical and biological fertility, while compost is more appropriate for the enhancement of soil organic matter content and to promote soil C sequestration.  Keywords: Organic residues, Mineralisation, C sequestration, N2O emissions, Soil organic matter  Résumé  Le but de ce travail était d'étudier les effets de différents résidus organiques sur la fertilité des sols et les changements climatiques, grâce à l'évaluation de la minéralisation de la matière organique, des émissions de gaz à effet de serre, de la disponibilité de nutriments et du contenu en biomasse microbienne ainsi que de son activité. Un sol agricole dégradé a été amendé avec trois résidus organiques différents (digestion de lisier de porc, tourteau de colza et compost) à trois différentes doses (0.1, 0.25 et 0.5 % p/p) et incubé pendant 30 jours à 20 °C. Durant cette incubation ont été déterminés les émissions de CO2 et de N2O, ainsi que le contenu en C organique, N, NH4+, NO3-, P extractibles au K2SO4, la A.Gálvez, T.Sinicco, M.L.Cayuela, M.D. Mingorance, F.Fornasier, C.Mondini /EQA, 7 (2011)  33-40   34biomasse microbienne et certaines activités enzymatiques. Les résultats montrent que le tourteau de colza et le lisier sont mieux adaptés pour améliorer la fertilité chimique et biologique, tandis que le compost est plus approprié pour améliorer le contenu en matière organique et promouvoir la séquestration du carbone. Mots-clés: Résidus Organiques, Minéralisation, Stockage de C, Emissions de N2O, Matière organique du sol  Riassunto  Lo scopo di questo lavoro era la valutazione degli effetti di diversi residui organici sulla fertilità del suolo e sul cambiamento climatico, attraverso lo studio della mineralizzazione della sostanza organica (SO), delle emissioni di gas ad effetto serra, della disponibilità di nutrienti e del contenuto ed attività dei microorganismi. Un suolo degradato è stato ammendato con tre diversi residui organici (digestato anaerobico, farina di colza, compost da residui alimentari) a tre diversi dosi (0.1, 0.25 e 0.5% p/p) e incubato per 30 giorni a 20 ºC. Durante l’incubazione è stata misurata l’evoluzione di CO2 e N2O, il contenuto di C, N, NH4+, NO3-, e P estraibili, il contenuto di C della biomassa microbica ed alcune attività enzimatiche. I risultati ottenuti mostrano come la farina di colza ed il digestato sono più indicati per migliorare la fertilità chimica e biologica del suolo, mentre il compost è più appropriato per aumentare il contenuto di SO. Parole chiave: Residui organici, Mineralizzazione, Sequestro di C, Emissioni di N2O, Sostanza organica del suolo  Introduction  Soil organic matter (SOM) represents one of the most important soil components. However, the intensification of agricultural practices is leading to a significant decrease in SOM. The use of organic residues as amendments could offset SOM decline and, at the same time, solve the problem of waste disposal with an environmentally sound option. However, the sustainability of this strategy requires an exhaustive evaluation of the impact of residues on soil quality in order to avoid any adverse environmental effect.  The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of different organic residues on soil fertility and its implications on climate change, through the evaluation of SOM mineralisation, greenhouse gases emissions, nutrients availability and soil microbial biomass content and activity.   Materials and methods  The experiments were carried out with an agricultural soil proceeding from San Martino al Tagliamento, (PN, Italy). This soil was a Fluventic Eutrudept (USDA, 1999) with pH(H2O) of 8.3, 69% sand, 28% silt, 3% clay, 740 g kg-1 CaCO3, 1.05% organic C, 0.12% total N and 114 mg kg-1 microbial biomass C. The soil was amended with 3 different organic residues: pig slurry digestate (PD) (37.9% TOC, 4.4% TN), rapeseed meal from biodiesel production (RSM) (45.9% TOC, 6.0%   EQA – Environmental quality / Qualité de l’Environnement / Qualità ambientale, 7  (2011) 33-40  DOI: 10.6092/issn.2281-4485/3831   35TN) and compost from the separate collection of household organic waste (HWC) (34.4% TOC, 2.3% TN). The amendments were applied at three different doses: 0.10, 0.25 and 0.50%, equivalent to 4, 10 and 20 ton ha-1, respectively. The amended soil was thereafter incubated in the laboratory for 30 d at 20 °C. During incubation, soil CO2 and N2O evolution was continuously measured every 6 hours by means of an automated system for continuous gas sampling and analysis (Mondini et al., 2010), while aliquots of soils were taken after 2, 7 and 30 days of incubation for analysis of extractable NH4+, NO3-, available P, organic C (EOC) and N (EN) and some enzymatic activities. Soil microbial biomass was also analysed after 2 and 30 days of incubation. Extractable NH4+, NO3-, available P, EOC and EN were determined using a 1:4 (w/v) ratio of amended soil to K2SO4 0.5M extract. Extractable NH4+ was determined by a modified colorimetric method based on Berthelot’s reaction (Sommer et al., 1992). The content of NO3- was measured by reading the absorbance at 220 nm and subtracting the absorbance at 275 nm. The content of available P was determined by a colorimetric method (Van Veldhoven and Mannaerts, 1987). K2SO4-extractable organic C (EOC) and N (EN) were measured using a TOC-VCSN analyser (Shimadzu). Soil microbial biomass C (BC) was determined by the fumigation-extraction method (Vance et al., 1987). The different enzymatic activities were measured in soil extracts (Fornasier and Margon, 2007) utilizing a fluorescence method.  Results and discussion  CO2 and N2O emissions. Figure 1 shows CO2 emissions during the first 15 days of incubation from soils amended at three different doses.    Figure 1 - CO2 emissions obtained during the first 15 days of incubation of soil amended with rapeseed meal (a), pig digestate (b) and compost (c).  0102030405060700 5 10 15Incubation time (days)CO2 -C (µg kg-1 min-1) 0.5%0.25%0.1%Control(a)0246810120 5 10 15Incubation time (days)CO2 -C (µg kg-1 min-1) (b)01234560 5 10 15Incubation time (days)CO2 -C (µg kg-1 min-1) (c)   The organic residues were characterized by significant differences in their composition that clearly influenced the behaviour of the residues once applied to the soil. The highest CO2 emissions were obtained with rapeseed meal. CO2 emissions increased with the dose for all the residues. A.Gálvez, T.Sinicco, M.L.Cayuela, M.D. Mingorance, F.Fornasier, C.Mondini /EQA, 7 (2011)  33-40   36Cumulative extra CO2-C (difference in cumulative respiration between amended and control soil) (Table 1) was generally not affected by the dose and was around 14% for rapeseed meal, 7% for pig digestate and 2.6% for the compost. With the compost, 97% of added C remained in the soil at the end of the incubation, indicating that this amendment favours the conservation of added C.  Table 1 - Balance of C mineralisation in amended soil after 30 d of incubation. Extra CO2-C is the difference in cumulative respiration between amended and control soil.   0.1% 0.25% 0.5% Residue Extra CO2-C Extra CO2-C Extra CO2-C  (µg g-1) (% added C) (µg g-1) (%  added C) (µg g-1) (% added C)  Rapeseed meal  63.70  13.88  163.46  14.24  337.49  14.71 Pig digestate 26.63 7.03 61.85 6.53 122.92 6.49 Compost 14.41 4.19 22.12 2.57 44.10 2.56  N2O emissions were detected only with rapeseed meal (Figure 2) and were correlated with the application dose. Cumulative N2O emissions were less than 0.7% of N added with the residue.  0.00.10.20.30.40.50 5 10 15Incubation time (days)N2O-N (µg kg-1 min-1) 0.5%0.25%0.1%Control  Figure 2  N2O emissions during  15 days of incubation  of soil amended with  rapeseed meal.   Nutrients: N and P. The EN (Figure 3) of amended soil was positively correlated with the dose and incubation time for all the residues. The highest increase in EN content was obtained with rapeseed meal at the highest dose.    EQA – Environmental quality / Qualité de l’Environnement / Qualità ambientale, 7  (2011) 33-40  DOI: 10.6092/issn.2281-4485/3831   37(a)04080120160HWC PD RSM ControlEN (μg g-1)0.1%0.25%0.5%(c)04080120160HWC PD RSM ControlEN (μg g-1)(d)04080120160HWC PD RSM Control(b)04080120160HWC PD RSM ControlFigure 3   Extractable N in  soil after 2 (a), 7 (b), 15 (c) and 30 (d) days of incubation.   Net (control subtracted) mineral N (NO3- + NH4+) at the end of the experiment (Ta-ble 2) was around 40% of added N for rapeseed meal and around 20% of added N for pig digestate. At the highest dose this corresponds to an increase in mineral N of 480 and 176 kg ha-1 for rapeseed meal and pig digestate, respectively. The addi-tion of 0.1% of compost increased the net mineral N, however higher doses led to N immobilization.  Table 2 - Balance of N mineralisation in amended soil after 30 d of incubation. Net min-eral N is the difference between NO3- plus NH4+ in the amended soil and NO3- plus NH4+ in the control soil. Negative values indicate net N immobilization.   0.1% 0.25% 0.5% Residue Net mineral N  Net mineral N Net mineral N  (µg g-1) (% added N) (µg g-1) (%  added N) (µg g-1) (% added N)  Rapeseed meal  24.33  40.56  60.90  40.60  134.87  44.96 Pig digestate 9.06 20.59 17.89 16.27 46.04 20.93 Compost 0.87 3.76 -0.62 -1.07 -8.40 -7.26  A.Gálvez, T.Sinicco, M.L.Cayuela, M.D. Mingorance, F.Fornasier, C.Mondini /EQA, 7 (2011)  33-40   38Information provided by short term laboratory incubation on the N mineralisation of amendments is valuable for the estimation of the N mineralisation under field conditions (Gale et al., 2006). Available P (Figure 4) increased after the amendment with rapeseed meal and pig digestate (9 and 50 kg ha-1 respectively, at the highest dose).  Figure 4 - Available P in soil after 2 (a), 7 (b) and 30 (c) days of incubation. (a)0102030HWC PD RSM ControlP (μg P g-1)0.1%0.25%0.5%(b)0102030HWC PD RSM Control(c)0102030HWC PD RSM Control  Soil microbial biomass and enzymatic activity. Soil microbial biomass C content (Figure 5) increased after the addition of the amendments and was higher at the dose of 0.5%. The highest increase was again obtained with rapeseed meal and was more significant after 2 days of incubation.  (a)02004006008001000HWC PD RSM ControlBC (µg g -1)0.1%0.25%0.5%(b)02004006008001000HWC PD RSM Control Figure 5 Microbial biomass C after 2 (a) and 30 (b) days of incubation.  Figure 6 shows the values of leucine aminopeptidase activity in amended soil as an example of the typical response of the measured enzymatic activities after soil amendment. The highest increase in enzymatic activity was obtained with rapeseed meal at the highest dose and after 2 days of incubation. The increase in soil microbial biomass content and activity represent a clear indication of an enhancement in soil biological fertility.   EQA – Environmental quality / Qualité de l’Environnement / Qualità ambientale, 7  (2011) 33-40  DOI: 10.6092/issn.2281-4485/3831   39 Figure 6 - Leucine aminopeptidase activity after 2 (a), 7 (b) and 30 (c) days of incubation.  (a)0100200300400HWC PD RSM ControlLeucine (nM h-1 g-1)0.1%0.25%0.5%(b)0100200300400HWC PD RSM Control(c)0100200300400HWC PD RSM Control   Conclusions  The results obtained demonstrate that organic residues may represent an effective solution for the recovery and conservation of soil quality. Rapeseed meal and pig digestate provide nutrients (16-45% of added N, 9-50 kg P ha-1) and increase soil biological fertility. The compost is best indicated for the recovery of soil organic matter content and to promote soil C sequestration.   Acknowledgements This work was supported by a post-doctoral grant financed by Fundación Ramón Areces (Madrid, Spain). The authors would like to thank Mrs. Emanuela Vida for skilful technical assistance.  References  FORNASIER F., MARGON A. (2007) Bovine serum albumin and Triton X-100 greatly increase phosphomonoesterases and arylsulphatase extraction yield from soil. Soil Biol. Biochem. 39:682-2684. GALE E.S, SULLIVAN D.M, COGGER C.G., BARY A.I., HEMPHILL D.D., MYHRE E.A. (2006) Estimating plant-available N release from manures, composts, and specialty products. J. Environ. Qual. 35:321-2332. MONDINI C., SINICCO T., CAYUELA M.L., SANCHEZ-MONEDERO M.A. (2010) A simple automated system for measuring soil respiration by gas chromatography. Talanta 81:849-855. SOMMER S.G, KJELLERUP V., KRISTJANSEN O. (1992) Determination of total ammonium nitrogen in pig and cattle slurry: sample preparation and analysis. Acta Agric. Scand. B Soil Plant Sci. 42:146-15. USDA  (1999) In: Soil Taxonomy: A Basic System of Soil Classification for Making and Interpreting Soil Surveys (Ed. USDA), US Government Printing Office, Washington DC, pp. 570-571. VAN VELDHOVEN P.P., MANNAERTS G.P. (1987) Inorganic and organic phosphate measurements in the nanomolar range. Anal. Biochem. 161:45-48. A.Gálvez, T.Sinicco, M.L.Cayuela, M.D. Mingorance, F.Fornasier, C.Mondini /EQA, 7 (2011)  33-40   40VANCE E.D, BROOKES P.C., JENKINSON D.S. (1987) An extraction method for measuring soil microbial biomass. Soil Biol. Biochem. 19:703-707.   

USE OF ORGANIC RESIDUES FOR THE RECOVERY  OF SOIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of different organic residues on soil fertility and climate change, through the evaluation of soil organic matter mineralisation, greenhouse gas emission, nutrient availability and soil microbial biomass content and activity. A degraded agricultural soil was amended with three different organic residues (pig slurry digestate, rapeseed meal, and compost) at three different doses (0.1, 0.25 and 0.5% w/w) and incubated for 30 days at 20 ºC. During incubation, soil CO2 and N2O emissions, K2SO4 extractable organic C, N, NH4+, NO3- and P, soil microbial biomass and some enzymatic activities were determined. Results obtained showed that rapeseed meal and pig slurry are best suited to improve soil chemical and biological fertility, while compost is more appropriate for the enhancement of soil organic matter content and to promote soil C sequestration.Le but de ce travail était d'étudier les effets de différents résidus organiques sur la fertilité des sols et les changements climatiques, grâce à l'évaluation de la minéralisation de la matière organique, des émissions de gaz à effet de serre, de la disponibilité de nutriments et du contenu en biomasse microbienne ainsi que de son activité. Un sol agricole dégradé a été amendé avec trois résidus organiques différents (digestion de lisier de porc, tourteau de colza et compost) à trois différentes doses (0.1, 0.25 et 0.5 % p/p) et incubé pendant 30 jours à 20 °C. Durant cette incubation ont été déterminés les émissions de CO2 et de N2O, ainsi que le contenu en C organique, N, NH4+, NO3-, P extractibles au K2SO4, la biomasse microbienne et certaines activités enzymatiques. Les résultats montrent que le tourteau de colza et le lisier sont mieux adaptés pour améliorer la fertilité chimique et biologique, tandis que le compost est plus approprié pour améliorer le contenu en matière organique et promouvoir la séquestration du carbone.Lo scopo di questo lavoro era la valutazione degli effetti di diversi residui organici sulla fertilità del suolo e sul cambiamento climatico, attraverso lo studio della mineralizzazione della sostanza organica (SO), delle emissioni di gas ad effetto serra, della disponibilità di nutrienti e del contenuto ed attività dei microorganismi. Un suolo degradato è stato ammendato con tre diversi residui organici (digestato anaerobico, farina di colza, compost da residui alimentari) a tre diversi dosi (0.1, 0.25 e 0.5% p/p) e incubato per 30 giorni a 20 ºC. Durante l’incubazione è stata misurata l’evoluzione di CO2 e N2O, il contenuto di C, N, NH4+, NO3-, e P estraibili, il contenuto di C della biomassa microbica ed alcune attività enzimatiche. I risultati ottenuti mostrano come la farina di colza ed il digestato sono più indicati per migliorare la fertilità chimica e biologica del suolo, mentre il compost è più appropriato per aumentare il contenuto di SO

Galvez, Antonia

Sinicco, Tania

Cayuela, Maria Luz

Mingorance, Maria Dolores

Fornasier, Flavio

Mondini, Claudio

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UTILIZZO DI RESIDUI ORGANICI PER IL RECUPERO  DEL SUOLO  E LA SOSTENIBILITÀ AMBIENTALE

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USE OF ORGANIC RESIDUES FOR THE RECOVERY OF SOIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

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