Temporal effects of food waste compost on soil physical quality and productivity

Abstract

X. M. 2015. Temporal effects of food waste compost on soil physical quality and productivity. Can. J. Soil Sci. 95: 251Á268. The benefits of compost additions on soil organic carbon content and crop productivity are extant in the literature, but detailed studies of compost effects on soil physical quality (SPQ) are limited. The objective of this study was therefore to describe how one-time additions of compost impact the immediate, mid-term and long-term SPQ and crop yields of an agricultural soil. Food waste compost (FWC) was incorporated once into the top 10 cm of a humid-temperate Brookston clay loam soil at rates of 0 (Control), 75 dry t ha(1 (FWC-75), 150 dry t ha(1 (FWCÁ150) and 300 dry t ha (1 (FWC-300); measurements of SPQ parameters and corn yield were then made annually over the next 11 yr. The SPQ parameters included bulk density (BD), organic carbon content (OC), air capacity (AC), plant-available water capacity (PAWC), relative field capacity (RFC), and saturated hydraulic conductivity (K S ), which were obtained from intact (undisturbed) soil core samples. Prior to compost addition, BD, OC, AC, PAWC, RFC and K S were substantially non-optimal, and BD had increased relative to virgin soil by 46%, while OC, AC and PAWC had decreased relative to virgin soil by 60, 56 and 43%, respectively. Improvements in SPQ 1 yr after compost addition were negligible or small for FWC-75 and FWC-150, but FWC-300 generated optimal values for BD, OC, AC, PAWC and RFC. The SPQ parameters degraded with time, but 11 yr after compost addition, OC and AC under FWC-300 were still within their optimal ranges, as well as significantly (PB0.05) greater than the Control values by 65 and 26%, respectively. Soil cracks and biopores apparently induced substantial annual variation in K S , but average K S nevertheless increased with increasing compost addition rate. Corn grain yield varied substantially among years, which was likely due to weather and compost effects; however, 11-yr cumulative yields from the compost treatments were greater than the Control by 2200Á6500 kg ha (1 .

How do changes in bulk soil organic carbon content affect carbon concentrations in individual soil particle fractions?

“…Soil samples were collected from three long-term field experiments, including: i) an organic amendment study which received one-time applications (fall 1997) of household food waste compost (75 Mg ha −1 , 150 Mg ha −1 , 300 Mg ha −1 ), yard waste compost (75 Mg ha −1 ), and pig manure plus wheat straw compost (75 Mg ha −1 ) (see Yang et al 30. and Reynolds et al 31. for details); ii) a long-term fertilization and rotation experiment (initiated 1959) consisting of three cropping treatments (continuous corn, corn-oat-alfalfa-alfalfa rotation, continuous bluegrass sod) and two fertilizer treatments (fertilized, not fertilized) with each phase of the rotation present every year (see Drury et al 32.…”

“… 30 and Reynolds et al . 31 for details); ii) a long-term fertilization and rotation experiment (initiated 1959) consisting of three cropping treatments (continuous corn, corn-oat-alfalfa-alfalfa rotation, continuous bluegrass sod) and two fertilizer treatments (fertilized, not fertilized) with each phase of the rotation present every year (see Drury et al . 32 for details); and iii) a long-term tillage study (initiated in 1983 and modified in 1996) with corn under moldboard plow tillage, ridge tillage and no-tillage, plus continuous Kentucky bluegrass sod (see Yang et al .…”

Comparing Different Methods to Determine Soil Physical Quality in a Mediterranean Forest and Pasture Land

“…Many investigations on SPQ were performed on agricultural soils because there is the need to establish what happens with different agronomic practices (e.g., Keller et al, 2007;Moebius et al, 2007;Reynolds et al, 2007;Fernández-Ugalde et al, 2009;Głąb et al, 2009;Chakraborty et al, 2010;Arthur et al, 2011;Bamberg et al, 2011;Li et al, 2011;Stavi and Lal, 2011;Iovino et al, 2016;Reynolds et al, 2014Reynolds et al, , 2015Baiamonte et al, 2015). Moreover, guidelines of practical interest have been developed with specific reference to these soils (e.g., Reynolds et al, 2009), and this circumstance has stimulated SPQ assessment in agricultural environments notwithstanding that optimal/critical values or ranges for SPQ indicators are still approximate (Reynolds et al, 2007) mainly because they are based on empirical observations that cannot cover all the possible situations.…”

Earthworm population dynamics as a consequence of long-term and recently imposed tillage in a clay loam soil

“…Mean annual air temperature and precipitation (45 year average) at the field site were 8.9˚C and 832 mm, respectively (Reynolds et al 2015). Average soil texture in the Ap horizon (0-20 cm) is 28 wt.…”