Soil aggregate size distribution, stability and carbon content as affected by various levels of municipal solid waste compost

Paper Details

Research Paper 01/05/2015
Views (195) Download (6)
current_issue_feature_image
publication_file

Soil aggregate size distribution, stability and carbon content as affected by various levels of municipal solid waste compost

Kashif Bashir, Safdar Ali, Shahzada Sohail Ijaz, Ijaz Ahmad, Zafar Abbas, Adnan Shakeel, Mushtaq Ahmed
J. Bio. Env. Sci.6( 5), 409-417, May 2015.
Certificate: JBES 2015 [Generate Certificate]

Abstract

Abundance of stable soil aggregates is an important indicator of good soil structure for sustainable crop production. Application of municipal solid waste (MSW) compost, due to its higher proportion of stable carbon pools, which serves as persistent binding agent for stabilization of aggregates, may significantly improve soil aggregation. In order to evaluate the effects of varying levels of MSW compost upon the formation, stability and associated carbon content of soil aggregates, a field trial was executed for two years in the dryland Pothwar, Pakistan. The MSW compost was applied at four levels i.e. 0, 0.25, 0.50 and 1 % of soil organic carbon in a randomized complete block design. The MSW compost application affected the stability and carbon concentration of different aggregate size classes at the end of the experimental period although the effect on dry aggregates size distribution was less noticeable. The application of MSW compost at 0.5 % level significantly improved the MWD of wet aggregates and the carbon concentration of macro (2 – 4, 1 – 2, 0.5 – 1 and 0.25 – 0.5 mm) and micro aggregates (0.05 – 0.25 mm).

VIEWS 6

Allison SD, Czimczik CI, Treseder KK. 2008. Microbial activity and soil respiration under nitrogen addition in Alaskan boreal forest. Global Change in Biology 14, 1156–1168.

Angers DA, Caron J. 1998. Plant-induced changes in soil structure: processes and feedbacks. Biogeochemistry 42, 55–72.

Banger K, Kukal SS, Toor G, Sudhir K, Hanumanthraju TH. 2009. Impact of long-term additions of chemical fertilizers and farmyard manure on carbon and nitrogen sequestration under rice– cowpea cropping system in semi-arid tropics. Plant and Soil 318, 27–35.

Bhattacharyya R, Prakash V, Kundu S, Srivastva AK, Gupta HS, Mitra S. 2009. Long-term effects of fertilization on carbon and nitrogen sequestration and aggregate associated carbon and nitrogen in the Indian sub-Himalayas. Nutrient Cycling in Agro ecosystem 86, 1–16.

Blake GR, Hartge KH. 1986. Bulk Density. Methods of Soil Analysis, Part 1, Soil Science Society of America 363-376, Madison, WI, USA.

Chepil WS. 1962. A compact rotary sieve and the importance of dry sieving in physical soil analysis. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings 26, 4-6.

Das B, Chakraborty D, Singh VK, Aggarwal P, Singh R, Dwivedi BS, Mishra RP. 2014. Effect of integrated nutrient management practice on soil aggregate properties, its stability and aggregate associated carbon content in an intensive rice-wheat system. Soil and Tillage Research 136, 9 – 18.

Douglas JT, Goss MJ. 1982. Stability and organic matter content of surface soil aggregates under different methods of cultivation and grassland. Soil and Tillage Research 2, 155 – 175.

Dubois M, Gilles KA, Hamilton JK, Rebers PA, Smith F. 1956. Colorimetric method for determination of sugars and related substances. Annals of Chemistry 28, 350-356.

Gardner CMK, Bell JP, Cooper JD, Dean TJ, Gardner N, Hodnett MG. Soil water content. In: Smith KA, Mullins CE (ed). Soil analysis: Physical methods. Marcel Dekker, Inc. 270 Madison Avenue, Newyork. 1991.

Gee GW, Bauder JW. Particle size analysis. In: A. Klute (ed). Methods of soil analysis Part 1. American Society of Agronomy monograph. No. 9. Medison, Wisconsin. 1986.

Heckrath G, Djurhuus J, Quine TA, vanOost K, Govers G, Zhang Y. 2005. Tillage erosion and its effect on soil properties and crop yield in Denmark. Journal of Environmental Quality 34, 312-324.

Jolivet C, Angers DA, Chantigny MH, Andreux F, Arrouays D. 2006. Carbohydrate dynamics in particle-size fractions of sandy spodosols following forest conversion to maize cropping. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 38, 2834–2842.

Kemper WD, Koch EJ. 1966. Aggregate stability of soils from the Western United States and Canada. U. S. Department of Agriculture Tech. Bull. No. 1335.

Kong AYY, Six J, Bryant DC, Denison RF, van Kessel C. 2005. The relationship between carbon input, aggregation, and soil organic carbon stabilization in sustainable cropping systems. Soil Science Society of America Journal 69, 1078–1085.

Liao JD, Boutton TW, Jastrow JD. 2006. Organic matter turnover in soil physical fractions following woody plant invasion of grassland: evidence from natural 13C and 15N. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 38, 3197–3210.

Monnier G. 1965. Action of the organic resources contents on the structural stability of soils. These, Paris: 140 p.

Nelson DW, Sommers LE. 1982. Organic matter. In: A.L. Page, R. H. Miller, D.R. Keeney (ed). 1982. Methods of Soil Analysis. Part II, Chemical and microbiological properties. American Society of Agronomy No.9.Madison, WI, USA. 574-577 p.

Nizami MMI, Shafiq M, Rashid A, Aslam M. 2004. The soils and their agricultural development potential in Potwar. NARC, Islamabad. 5-7 p.

Piccolo A. 1996. Humus and soil conservation. In: A. Piccolo (ed). Humic substances in terrestrial ecosystems. Elsevier, Amsterdam. 225-264 p.

Rasool R, Kukal SS, Hira GS. 2008. Soil organic carbon and physical properties as affected by long-term application of FYM and inorganic fertilizers in maize–wheat system. Soil and Tillage Research 101, 31–36.

Sardo MS, Asgari HR, Kiani F, Heshmati GA. 2013. Effects of biological practices on soil stability in a desertified area of Iran. International Journal of Environmental Resources Research 1, 30 – 38.

Schjønning P, deJonge LW, Munkholm LJ, Moldrup P, Christensen BT, Olesen JE. 2012. Clay dispersibility and soil friability testing the soil clay-to-carbon saturation concept. Vadose Zone Journal 11, 1-12.

Six J, Elliot ET, Paustian K. 2000. Soil macroaggregate turn over and micraggregate formation: A mechanism for C sequestration under no-tillage agriculture. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 32, 2099-2103.

Six J, Bossuyt H, Degryze S, Denef K. 2004. A history of research on the link between (micro) aggregates, soil biota, and soil organic matter dynamics. Soil and Tillage Research 79, 7-31.

Steel RGD, Torrie JH, Boston MA. Principles and Procedures of Statistics: a biometrical approach. McGraw Hill book company Inc. New York. 1997.

Swift RS. 1996. Organic matter characterization. In: Sparks DL, Page AL, Helmke P, Loeppert RH, Soltanpur PN, Tabatabai MA, Johnston CT, Sumner ME (ed). Methods of Soil Analysis. Part III, Chemical methods No. 5. Soil Science Society of America Inc, Madison, WI, USA. 1011-1070 p.

Vance E, Brookes P, Jenkinson D. 1987. An extraction method for measuring soil microbial biomass carbon. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 19, 703-707.

Walkley A. 1947. A critical examination of a rapid method for determining organic carbon in soils: Effect of variations in digestion conditions and of inorganic soil constituents. Soil Science 63, 251-263.

Xiao Q, Kuo YH, Zhang Y, Barker DM, Won DJ. 2006. A tropical cyclone bogus data assimilation scheme in the MM5 3D-Var system and numerical experiments with Typhoon Rusa (2002) near landfall. Journal of Meteorological Society of Japan 84, 671-689.