SOIL CARBON AND NITROGEN DYNAMICS IN DEGRADED SOILS RECLAIMED USING STABILIZED ORGANIC AMENDMENTS

Aboukila, Emad; Dere, Ashlee; Stehouwer, Richard

doi:10.21608/jaesj.2024.283261.1163

SOIL CARBON AND NITROGEN DYNAMICS IN DEGRADED SOILS RECLAIMED USING STABILIZED ORGANIC AMENDMENTS

Document Type : Full research articles

Authors

¹ Department of Natural Resources and Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Damanhour University, Egypt

² College of Agricultural Sciences, Penn State University, USA

10.21608/jaesj.2024.283261.1163

Abstract

Organic carbon (C) and nutrients in manure can enhance the quality of degraded soil if they are sequestered in the soil. This improvement could be facilitated by applying manure mixed with a high carbon material or by composting the manure. To identify labile and stable nitrogen (N) and carbon C fractions in degraded soil connected to different treatments, a lab incubation experiment was conducted. Treatments included lime plus mineral fertilizer, two levels of compost and two levels of manure combined with paper mill sludge to achieve C:N ratios of 20:1 and 30:1. The treatments were added to degraded soil and immediately incubated. Data revealed that using organic amendments instead of lime and fertilizer was more effective in creating large stable N and C fractions, proving that the N and C sequestered by both C:N adjustment techniques is much higher than the N and C pools linked to inorganic fertilizer. However, paper mill sludge and manure exhibited higher levels of microbial biomass, which could lead to improved long-term nutrient cycling. It doesn't seem that adding more paper mill sludge to raise the C:N ratio from 20:01 to 30:1 was beneficial. According to these findings, composting and mixed manure + paper mill sludge amendments were equally successful in creating stable N pools in degraded soil.

Keywords