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Effect of Composted Municipal Sewage Sludge on Growth and Elemental Composition on White Pine and Hybrid Poplar¹

ABSTRACT

A field study was conducted to determine the benefits of land application of composted municipal sewage sludge to white pine (Pinus strobus L.) and hybrid poplar (Populus deltoides spp., P. angulata x P. trichocarpa) growth. Composted municipal sewage sludge was disked into a Chester silt loam (Typic Hapludult—fine loamy, mixed, mesic) at rates of 0, 150, and 300 dry Mg/ha. White pine seedlings and hybrid poplar cuttings were grown for 3 y on the plots which had been seeded with ‘Kentucky 31’ tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.).

White pine growth was not affected by the compost treatments. Poplar growth, however, increased as a result of the compost application. After 3 y, the average hybrid poplar heights were 233, 443, and 483 cm for the 0, 150, and 300 Mg/ha treatments, respectively. The height differences between the control and the compost-amended plots were due to a faster growth rate and a longer growth period of the trees on the compost-amended plots. Hybrid poplars grown on the compost-amended soil had higher concentrations of N and K and a lower concentration of Zn in the leaves than the control. No consistent differences in elemental composition of the white pine needles were apparent.

Key Words: tree plantations • waste disposal • soil fertility

¹ Scientific Article no. A-3118 and contribution no. 6185 of the Univ. of Maryland Agric. Exp. Stn. Contribution from Dep. of Agron., Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742.

² Assistant Professor, Dep. of Agron., Univ. of Maryland; formerly Professor, Dep. of Agron., Univ. of Maryland, now Professor, Dep. of Soil Sci., North Dakota State Univ., Fargo, ND 58103; formerly Associate Professor, Dep. of Agron., Univ. of Maryland, now Professor, Dep. of Agron., Univ. of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701; formerly Graduate Assistant, Dep. of Agron., Univ. of Maryland; and formerly Graduate Assistant, Dep. of Agron., Univ. of Maryland, now Assistant Professor, Dep. of Agron., Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, respectively.

Received for publication March 29, 1982.