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Decomposition of peat, biogenic municipal waste compost, and shrub/grass compost added in different rates to a silt loam
Author(s) -
Niklasch Holger,
Joergensen Rainer Georg
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of plant nutrition and soil science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.644
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1522-2624
pISSN - 1436-8730
DOI - 10.1002/1522-2624(200108)164:4<365::aid-jpln365>3.0.co;2-y
Subject(s) - compost , loam , peat , incubation , chemistry , biomass (ecology) , zoology , green waste , agronomy , substrate (aquarium) , botany , environmental science , soil water , soil science , biology , ecology , biochemistry
An incubation experiment was carried out to test the effects of biogenic municipal waste (compost I) and shrub/grass (compost II) composts in comparison to peat on respiration and microbial biomass in soil. The amounts of these three substrates added were linearly increased in the range of field application rates (0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0%). The sum of CO 2 evolved during the incubation was markedly raised by the three substrates and increased with the rate of substrate concentration. However, the percentage of substrate mineralized to CO 2 decreased with the addition rate from 103 to 56% for compost I, from 81 to 56% for compost II, and from 21 to 8% for peat. During the first 25 days of incubation, compost I enlarged the biomass C content, which remained constant until the end. In contrast, compost II did not raise biomass C initially. But at the end of the incubation, the biomass C content of all 4 compost II treatments almost reached the level of the respective compost I treatment. The increase was significantly larger the more of the two composts was added. In contrast to the two composts, the addition of peat did not have any significant effect on microbial biomass C. The average q CO 2 values at day 25 declined in the order compost I > compost II > peat, at day 92 the order was changed to compost II > peat > compost 1. This change in the order was caused by a significant decrease in q CO 2 values of the compost I treatments, a significant increase in q CO 2 values of the peat treatments and constant q CO 2 values in the compost II treatments.