Fresh and composted industrial sludge restore soil functions in surface soil of degraded agricultural land

Muhammad Saleem Arif; Muhammad Riaz; Sher Muhammad Shahzad; Tahira Yasmeen; Muhammad Ashraf; Muhammad Siddique; Muhammad Salman Mubarik; Luca Bragazza; Alexandre Buttler

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.11.143

Fresh and composted industrial sludge restore soil functions in surface soil of degraded agricultural land

Sci Total Environ. 2018 Apr 1:619-620:517-527. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.11.143. Epub 2017 Nov 29.

Authors

Muhammad Saleem Arif¹, Muhammad Riaz², Sher Muhammad Shahzad³, Tahira Yasmeen², Muhammad Ashraf³, Muhammad Siddique², Muhammad Salman Mubarik⁴, Luca Bragazza⁵, Alexandre Buttler⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan; École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC), Laboratory of Ecological Systems (ECOS), Bâtiment GR, Station 2, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Site Lausanne, Station 2, Case Postale 96, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. Electronic address: msarif@outlook.com.
² Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan.
³ Department of Soil & Environmental Sciences, University College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha, Sargodha 40100, Pakistan.
⁴ Centre of Agricultural Biochemistry and Biotechnology (CABB), University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan.
⁵ École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC), Laboratory of Ecological Systems (ECOS), Bâtiment GR, Station 2, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Site Lausanne, Station 2, Case Postale 96, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; University of Ferrara, Department of Life Science and Biotechnologies, Corso Ercole I d'Este 32, I-44121 Ferrara, Italy.
⁶ École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC), Laboratory of Ecological Systems (ECOS), Bâtiment GR, Station 2, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Site Lausanne, Station 2, Case Postale 96, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.

PMID: 29156271
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.11.143

Abstract

A field study was conducted to test the potential of 5-year consecutive application of fresh industrial sludge (FIS) and composted industrial sludge (CIS) to restore soil functions at surface (0-15cm) and subsurface (15-30cm) of the degraded agricultural land. Sludge amendments increased soil fertility parameters including total organic carbon (TOC), soil available nitrogen (SAN), soil available phosphorus (SAP) and soil available potassium (SAK) at 0-15cm depth. Soil enzyme activities i.e. dehydrogenase (DHA), β-glucosidase (BGA) and alkaline phosphatase (ALp) were significantly enhanced by FIS and CIS amendments in surface soil. However, urease activity (UA) and acid phosphatase (ACp) were significantly reduced compared to control soil. The results showed that sludge amendments significantly increased microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) and microbial biomass phosphorus (MBP) at both soil depth, and soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) only at 0-15cm depth. Significant changes were also observed in the population of soil culturable microflora (bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes) with CIS amendment in surface soil suggesting persistence of microbial activity owing to the addition of organic matter source. Sludge amendments significantly reduced soil heavy metal concentrations at 0-15cm depth, and the effect was more pronounced with CIS compared to unamended control soil. Sludge amendments generally had no significant impact on soil heavy metal concentrations in subsoil. Agronomic viability test involving maize was performed to evaluate phytotoxicity of soil solution extract at surface and sub-surface soil. Maize seeds grown in solution extract (0-15cm) from sludge treated soil showed a significant increase of relative seed germination (RSG), relative root growth (RRG) and germination index (GI). These results suggested that both sludge amendments significantly improved soil properties, however, the CIS amendment was relatively more effective in restoring soil functions and effectively immobilizing wastewater derived heavy metals compared to FIS treatment.

Keywords: Aridisol; Organic amendments; Phytotoxicity; Soil enzymes; Soil nutrients; Soil quality.