HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) An erratum has been published An erratum has been published Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Heckman, J. R. Articles by Kluchinski, D. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Heckman, J. R. Articles by Kluchinski, D. Agricola Articles by Heckman, J. R. Articles by Kluchinski, D.

Chemical Composition of Municipal Leaf Waste and Hand-Collected Urban Leaf Litter

Plant Science Dep., Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, NJ 08903;

D. Kluchinski

Rutgers Coop. Ext. of Mercer County, 930 Spruce St, Trenton, NJ 08648-4584.

^* Corresponding author (heckman{at}aesop.rutgers.edu).

ABSTRACT

Municipal leaf waste delivered to New Jersey farms was sampled to evaluate its chemical composition and suitability for land application. Freshly fallen leaf litter samples were also collected and analyzed from seven different urban landscape tree species. Municipal leaf waste data from 100 samples in this study was summarized using frequency distributions to characterize its variability in composition. The chemical composition of municipal leaf waste was found to be quite variable. The minimum-maximum and median values were as follows: (g kg^–1) C, 363 to 516, 480; N, 6.6 to 16.2, 9.4; P, 0.2 to 2.9, 1.0; K, 0.9 to 8.8, 3.6; Ca 1.3 to 30.4, 17.3; Mg, 0.2 to 4.6, 2.4; S, 0.1 to 2.1, 1.1; (mg kg^–1) B, 7 to 72, 38; Fe, 46 to 9800, 733; Al, 58 to 10554, 602; Mn, 19 to 1845, 406; Zn, 22 to 392, 67; Na, 36 to 325, 90; Cl, 68 to 3995, 1083; Cu, 2.8 to 31.5, 8.1; Co, 0.9 to 10.9, 2.7; Cd, 0.1 to 6.8, 1.3; Pb, 3 to 400, 18; Ni, 1 to 58, 5; Cr, 0.9 to 35.1, 6.6; Ba, 4.2 to 142.0, 49.4. Although municipal leaf waste contains significant amounts of valuable plant nutrients, the high C/N ratio (range: 26.8–71.8; median: 48.5) suggests that heavy applications are likely to cause immobilization of available soil N. Concentrations of Fe, Al, Pb, and Cd were generally higher and more variable in municipal leaf waste than in hand-collected leaf litter. This suggests that contamination with urban soil during collection contributes to elevated Pb and Cd concentrations in municipal leaf waste. Given careful attention to N-fertilizer practice, municipal leaf waste is a suitable material for application to farm land.

Research supported by the New Jersey Agric. Exp. Stn. Project D-15 110-7-95.

Received for publication April 21, 1995.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				U. Krogmann Effects of season and population density on source-separated waste composts Waste Management Research, April 1, 1999; 17(2): 109 - 123. [Abstract] [PDF]