Crop and soil responses to sewage sludge applied to reclaimed prime farmland

Conference · Tue Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1996

OSTI ID:588879

Zhai, Qiang; Barnhisel, R I ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington, KY (United States)

Improvements in reclamation of surface mined prime farmland may be obtained by adding sewage sludge to topsoil and subsoil. This prime farmland reclamation study was done in western Kentucky. The experiment was conducted to investigate effects of the sludge amendment to topsoil and subsoil on soil and crop responses. The experiment showed, in most cases at highest application rates, that the sludge addition significantly increased the soil organic matter, total N content, and available P levels. However, water holding capacity, CEC, and exchangeable cations were not significantly affected. Higher microbial populations and activates were also obtained. The wheat biomass, tiller number, tissue N, grain N, grain yield, and N removal in grain were well correlated with application rates of sewage sludge. Corn also responded positively to additions of sewage sludge. The corn ear-leaf N concentration, grain yield, and grain N removal increased with application rates of sewage sludge. Experiments indicated that topsoil and subsoil sewage sludge addition was beneficial practices in terms of increasing crop yield and improving some soil properties.

• OSTI ID: 588879
• Report Number(s): CONF-9605286--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
COAL MINING
CROPS
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
FARMS
LAND RECLAMATION
MAIZE
ORGANIC MATTER
SEWAGE SLUDGE
SOILS
SURFACE MINING
WASTE DISPOSAL
WHEAT