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A Field Study of the Agricultural Use of Sewage Sludge: II. Effect on Soil N and P¹

ABSTRACT

Liquid digested sewage sludge applied at rates from 3.75 to 60 metric ton/ha significantly increased the concentrations of inorganic N, organic N, and Bray P₁ extractable P in a sandy loam and a silt loam soil in south-central Wisconsin. Most of the applied inorganic N was as NH₄-N and was nitrified rapidly. At sludge rates of 30 metric ton/ha or more, substantial losses of sludge-applied N occurred by leaching. Soil solution NO₃-N concentrations exceeded 100 mg/liter at the 120- to 150-cm depth 10 weeks after the first sludge application on the permeable sandy loam, and after about 1 year on the silt loam. The N balance indicated that considerable amounts of N may have been lost by denitrification, volatilization, or both, where > 30 metric ton/ha were applied. Mineralization of organic N was more rapid than previously reported. Up to 50% of the applied organic N was mineralized within 3 weeks after the last sludge application. During the remaining 25 months of the experiment, the mineralization rate was essentially constant at about 250 mg organic N/kg of soil/year at the 60 metric ton/ha sludge rate, and 180 mg organic N/kg of soil/year at the 30 metric ton/ha rate.

Sludge applications resulted in immediate marked increases in Bray P₁ extractable P. However, the extractable P levels decreased with time after sludge application, probably as a result of P fixation. Significant amounts of P remained available for at least 2 years at the higher treatment rates.

Key Words: NO₃ leaching • nitrification • denitrification • mineralization • ground water pollution • waste disposal

¹ Research supported by the College of Agric. and Life Sci. (Proj. nos. 1602 and 1921), Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, and by a grant from the Janesville Water Pollution Control Utility, Janesville, Wis. Portions of this paper were presented before Div. A-5 of the American Society of Agronomy, 12 Nov. 1973, Las Vegas, Nev.

² Research Assistant, Professors, Postdoctoral Fellow, and Professor, respectively, Dep. of Soil Sci., Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706. The senior author is currently Assistant Professor, Dep. of Natural Resourc., Ball State Univ., Muncie, IN 47306. J. A. Ryan is currently Soil Scientist, NERC, EPA, Cincinnati, OH 45200.

Received for publication May 17, 1976.

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