Factors affecting the consumption of roasted peanuts and products containing roasted peanuts were evaluated. A questionnaire was self-administered to 606 students and staff at Auburn and North Carolina A&T Universities. Fifty-six percent of respondents consumed roasted peanuts less than once per week while 31 percent consumed products containing roasted peanuts between once and twice weekly. Factors influencing the weekly consumption of roasted peanuts were age, gender, the use of the product as a side dish, crunchiness, convenience, and allergenicity (p < 0.05), whereas age, gender, the use of

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Numerous studies have shown that, through transformation processes, organic phosphorus (P) plays an important role in P cycling and plant nutrition in temperate and tropical soils. Field and laboratory studies were conducted to evaluate the transformation of residual organic P in the 0-15 cm surface layer of a sewage sludge-amended Decatur silty clay loam, six years after the final of five consecutive annual sludge applications to field plots of Huntsville and Chicago sludges at 20 Mg/ha and 10 years after a single application of 100 Mg/ha of the same sludges. Two indicator crops, corn (Zea mays L.) and sudangrass (Sorghum sudanenses L.), were grown on these plots for one season. Treatment plots-control, fertilizer, Chicago 20 Mg ha/yr, Huntsville 20 Mg ha/yr, Chicago 100 Mg/ha, (single application), and Huntsville 100 Mg/ha (single application)-were sampled and organic P fractions determined. The P fractions followed the order of: moderately labile P > moderately resistant P > highly resistant P > labile P, both before planting and after harvesting irrespective of the soil treatment. Generally, the Chicago and Huntsville 20 Mg/ha/yr treatments resulted in higher soil organic P fractions than the same sludges at the 100 Mg/ha (single application) rate. The Huntsville sludge treatments also resulted in higher P fractions than the Chicago sludge treatments at the corresponding application rate. Percentages of the two major P fractions to the total organic P, calculated both before planting and after harvesting, revealed that by the end of harvesting, the moderately labile P had decreased by 5.5% while the moderately resistant P had increased by 4.7%, suggesting that transformation of the organic P could have occurred during cropping.

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The nitrogen (N) release from composted and un‐composted biosolids and plant available N (PAN) of the biosolids were quantified to evaluate if composting can contribute to stabilize biosolids N and reduce the nitrate (NO3-) leaching potential in biosolids‐amended soil. Biosolids were composted at >55°C for 21 days after mixing the biosolids with yard waste at 1:1 (w/w) ratio. In the N release study, we installed field lysimeters filled with soil (sand and clay) amended with composted and un‐composted biosolids at two rates (30 and 150 dry Mg/ha) and measured the inorganic N in leachate after each rainfall and soil inorganic N monthly. The N released from composted biosolids during the two‐year study period were lower (6% of organic N added for clay and 11% for sandy loam soil) as compared to un‐composted biosolids (14% of organic N added for clay and 21% for sandy soils). Composted biosolids showed a lower N release rate constant k value of 0.0014 and 0.0027 month−1 for clay and sandy soil, respectively, compared to corresponding values of 0.0035 and 0.0068 month−1 for un‐composted biosolids. We used greenhouse bioassay with corn (Zea mays), ryegrass (Lolium perenne), and Miscanthus (Miscanthus giganteus) as test plants grown for six months with reference to N chemical fertilizer ranging from 0, 75, 150 to 300 kg N/ha to evaluate the PAN of the biosolids. Based on our study, plant growth was not affected by using either composted or un‐composted biosolids but the PAN was lower in composted biosolids (4.0%–5.9%) than un‐composted biosolids (11.4%–13.6%). Composting results in higher N‐retention efficiency in biosolids and composted biosolids are a valuable source of N to support the plant growth with lower N released to the environment. Thus, the potential of N leaching would still be low in the situations where a high rate of biosolids needs to be applied for land reclamation or landscaping soil reconstruction. Practitioner points Composting enhances N‐retention efficiency in biosolids and composted biosolids are a valuable source of N to support the plant growth with lower N released to the environment. Potential of N leaching would still be low in the situations where a high rate of biosolids needs to be applied for land reclamation or landscaping soil reconstruction. N released from composted and un‐composted biosolids can be adequately described by first‐order kinetic model.

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Soil amendments rich in organic matter and micronutrients can benefit plants by increasing the availability of micronutrients. To evaluate changes in the availability of trace elements in biosolids-amended soil, soil and plant samples were collected from six managed turfgrass locations across the Chicago metropolitan area that received air-dried biosolids topdressing at two rates: 2.2 Mg ha -1 per application (low biosolids rate), 11 Mg ha -1 per application (high biosolids rate), and urea 48.8 kg ha -1 total N per application (control). The low and high rates refer to biosolids total N and plant-available N, respectively, considered for meeting the turfgrass N recommendation. Biosolids and urea application was conducted for each year of [2006][2007][2008] with multiple applications per year. For micronutrients tested, biosolids application increased concentrations of soil-available (Mehlich-3 extraction) Zn (29.5 ± 2.9 mg kg -1 , mean ± SE) and Cu (9.0 ± 0.6 mg kg -1 ) for the high rate vs. the control (10.4 ± 2.9 mg kg -1 for Zn and 6.1 ± 0.7 mg kg -1 for Cu). Soil-available Mn, Fe, and Mo in the biosolids treatments did not differ from the control. Application of biosolids increased turf plant Cu, Zn, Mn, and Mo concentrations for both 2007 and 2008 and Fe for 2007 vs. the control with statistical significance at the high rate of biosolids. Topdressing with a plant-available N-based application rate for biosolids increased turfgrass nutrition of micronutrients without a concern of heavy metals.