editorial biosolids soil application: agronomic and

EditorialBiosolids Soil Application: Agronomic andEnvironmental Implications 2013

Silvana I. Torri,1 Rodrigo Studart Corrêa,2 Giancarlo Renella,3

Leonid Perelomov,4 and Alejandro Valdecantos5

1 Catedra de Quımica General e Inorganica, Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambiente, Facultad de Agronomıa,Universidad de Buenos Aires, San Martin Avenue 4453, 1417 DSE Buenos Aires, Argentina

2Department of Ecology, Catholic University of Brasilia, CP 04401, 70910900 Brasilia, DF, Brazil3 Department of Agrifood Production and Environmental Sciences, University of Florence, Piazzale delle Cascine,28 50144 Florence, Italy

4Department of Biology and Medicine, Tula State University, Lenin Avenue 92, Tula 300600, Russia5 Centro de Estudios Ambientales del Mediterraneo (CEAM), C/Charles R. Darwin 14, Parque Tecnologico, 46980 Paterna, Spain

Correspondence should be addressed to Silvana I. Torri; [email protected]

Received 19 December 2013; Accepted 19 December 2013; Published 16 March 2014

Copyright © 2014 Silvana I. Torri et al.This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

World production of biosolids is ever increasing due to globalpopulation rise and social progress, particularly in emergingcountries. While technologies to reduce, transform, or reusebiosolids are under continuous development, their safe usein agriculture is still considered the main feasible option.Land application of biosolids can significantly reduce sludgedisposal costs and provide varying amounts of nitrogen andphosphorus to crops. The use of biosolids as a source oforganicmatter improves the physical and chemical propertiesof agricultural soils, resulting in an increase in crop yields.An explanation to this is that, by its nature, agriculture has anegative balance in terms of organic matter and soil nutrientscontent which leads, on the term, to soil physical degradationand reduced chemical and biochemical fertility.

Agriculture use of biosolids still has a large consensus,being both a cost effective practice and a way to close thenutrient loop in agriculture and remediated degraded soils.The consensus is even increasing in the sight of the possibleadvantages of biosolids soil incorporation as a feasible way tobalance anthropogenic greenhouse emissions. However, thecomplexity of both biosolids and soil systems, the rapid andlarge impact on the biogeochemical cycles, and the scale ofagriculture still pose risks and uncertainties to predict their

effects on the long term and global change scenario. Thisspecial issue aims to fill the current gaps in the knowledgeof this specific field, although more research is surely neededin a near future.

An aspect gaining worldwide attention is biosolids man-agement in terms of global C budget. Many experimentsindicate that application of biosolids to land or opencastmines resulted in an increase in carbon reserves of soils fromdifferent regions and under different management practices.The potential of the main mechanisms controlling C seques-tration in soils amended with biosolids was discussed in thereview article by S. Torri et al.The paper represents a revisionof the latest knowledge on this topic, highlighting the role ofthe quality of the organic C (both from the soil and from thebiosolids), soil biological components, soil properties, andthe particular case of opencast mine sites.

C. Wallace et al. simulated rainfall conditions on mixed(cool and native warm season) grasslands on sloping, rockysoils to estimate nutrient and bacteria levels in runoff frombiosolids and mineral fertilizer. The ability of narrow vege-tated filter strips to reduce losseswas evaluated.No significantdifferences were detected among mean fecal coliform levelsdespite large differences in magnitude. Losses of ammonia

Hindawi Publishing CorporationApplied and Environmental Soil ScienceVolume 2014, Article ID 314730, 3 pageshttp://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/314730

2 Applied and Environmental Soil Science

and phosphorous were greater for biosolids application at thelower rate with no vegetated filter strips (LBU) than biosolidsapplied to the upslope half of the plot with the downslope halfserving as a vegetated filter strip (LBF). Results of this studysuggest that even a small vegetated filter strip can potentiallyreduce nutrient levels in runoff.

P. Jurado-Guerra et al. contribute to this special issuewith an interesting study dealing with the length of theeffects of increasing rates of biosolid applications on forageproduction in semiarid grasslands. Although the positiveeffect on grass productivity decreases with time, five yearsafter single applications of biosolids, the amended plots stillproduce larger amounts of forage than the unamended ones.However, these authors also address some constraints thathinder the generalization of this practice in grasslands.

The paper titled “Establishment of native grasses withbiosolids on abandoned croplands in Chihuahua Mexico” byJurado-Guerra et al. illustrates how an appropriate use andland application of biosolids may help the establishmentof forage production on degraded grassland soils. Theirresults showed that the use of biosolids apparently affectedthe growth parameters and yields of green sprangletop andblue grama crops, with the greater plant morphologicalmodifications and crop yield increases observed for the greensprangletop. Authors concluded that biosolids application at10 and 20Mg ha−1 rates had positive effects on the establish-ment and forage production of native grasses.

M. Chorom et al. assessed a monometal and competitiveadsorption of Cd, Ni and Zn in soils incubated with differentcontents of decayed cow manure. Most sorption isothermswere well described by the Freundlich equation and themonometal and competitive adsorption isotherms of Zn, Cdand Ni followed the L-curve type. Results showed that themono- and multimetal sorption amounts increased with anincrease in organic amendment content. This increasing wasconsistent with the CEC and particularly pH for the threesoils.Themetal binding sites in the organic matter weremoreselective for Zn and Ni than Cd. Competition significantlyreduced metal potential mobility, especially for Cd and Ni.

In the paper titled “Characterisation of organomineralfertilisers derived fromnutrient-enriched biosolids granules” byD. L. Antille et al., the authors compared two biosolids-basedorganomineral fertilizers, urea and raw biosolids applicationin grassland and arable crops. Results showed that OMFswere twice as efficient as biosolids and 5–10% less efficientthan urea to produce ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.). OMFsoptimum application rates remained within 10% differencecompared to urea and consistently lower than biosolids.Differently to the biosolids, the application of OMFs at rateswhich do not exceed the optimum N rate for the grasscrop has not induced significant changes in soil P Index.Therefore, the wastewater industry may convert sludge intobalanced fertilizers with a better economic strength and saferenvironmental perspectives with regard to the cost of fieldspreading and N and P load on the environment.

In the paper titled “Field-scale evaluation of biosolids-derived organomineral fertilisers applied to ryegrass (LoliumPerenne L.) in England” by D. L. Antille et al., the authors

studied organomineral fertilizers derived from nutrient-enriched biosolids granules. The fertilizers were producedby coating biosolids granules with urea and potash. Rou-tine fertilizer analyses were conducted on four batches oforganomineral fertilizers and biosolids granules and com-pared with a sample of urea to determine key physical andchemical properties of the materials which affect handlingand spreading, soil behavior, and fertiliser value.The researchutilizes a novel technology to improve the fertilizer valueof biosolids, reduce disposal costs and deliver a range ofenvironmental benefits associated with recycling.

B-J Koo et al. have set an experiment to evaluatehow organic acids in root exudates affect the absorptionof biosolid-borne metals by plants. Results showed thatthe concentrations of metals in the plant tissue grown onbiosolids-treated medium were always higher than that fromthe standard medium, irrespective of species and cultivar.The amount of metal transferred from the biosolids-treatedmedium to the plant varied with themetal element, followingthe order: Cd > Ni = Zn > Cu > Pb > Cr. Interspecies andcultivar differences in metal uptake were trivial compared todifferences induced by the treatment.Metal uptake decreasedwith the growth period and the kinetics of metal uptake andessentially followed a first order during the initial four weeksof growth, especially Cd and Zn.

The study of M. L. Silveira and G. A. O’Connor wasdesigned to evaluate the effects of temperature on the poten-tial leachable P pool and distribution of chemical P formsin a biosolids-amended soil. A P-deficient Spodosol wasincubatedwith biosolids and inorganic P fertilizer at differenttemperatures. Cumulative P mass leached during the 90-dstudy for any P-source was low, but greater cumulative Pmasswas released from the biological P removal and compostedbiosolids than from the heat-dried materials. Increasingtemperature (20 to 32∘C) generally decreased cumulativeP mass leached, suggesting greater soil affinity to retain Pat higher temperature. In a static incubation experiment(no leaching), soil water-extractable P concentrations werereduced over time, but no temperature effect was observed.P distribution among the various fractions was not affectedby temperature. The relatively great ability of the soil to sorbPmasked differences in biosolids properties and the potentialimpacts of temperature on P lability.

The potentials of use of biosolids in a specific agriculturalfield such as the plant nurserywere evaluated byB.DeLucia etal. This article sheds light on the specific agricultural activityof plant nursery for ornamental plant which produces highincome for farmers of various productive districts in Europeand other World areas but relies on the use of peat and otherno renewable substances for the preparation of the plantgrowth substrates and is one of the agricultural practiceswith the higher environmental impacts. In fact, the annualamount of peat used every year in the European Union forthe production of ornamental plants and horticulture is inthe order of 29 million m3, with a high impact on peatlands’stability. It is estimated that field cultivation of ornamentalplants may cause annual soil loss in the order of millionsof cubic meters (m3). The authors reported how the use of

Applied and Environmental Soil Science 3

compost from municipal sewage sludge in the plant growthsubstrates reduced the overall environmental impact of theplant nursery chain and did not affect the plant quality.

We hope that you find the special issue interesting anduseful and that it will act as a precursor for more studies tocome in the agronomic and environmental implications ofbiosolids soil application.

Silvana I. TorriRodrigo Studart Correa

Giancarlo RenellaLeonid Perelomov

Alejandro Valdecantos

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