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Plant Response to Fish Farming Wastes in Volcanic Soils
Author(s) -
Mazzarino M. J.,
Walter I.,
Costa G.,
Laos F.,
Roselli L.,
Satti P.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.2134/jeq1997.00472425002600020025x
Subject(s) - lolium perenne , fertilizer , mineralization (soil science) , soil water , aquaculture , zoology , agronomy , environmental science , soil fertility , chemistry , perennial plant , biology , fish <actinopterygii> , fishery , soil science
Agricultural use of aquaculture wastes appears to be a sound ecological and economical means to improve soil fertility and to decrease the potential for adverse water quality impacts in South Argentina. A 3‐mo greenhouse experiment with ryegrass ( Lolium perenne L.) was conducted to determine plant availability of N and P from aquaculture wastes and compare results with previous laboratory incubations. Treatments included: (i) wastes taken from sediments under cages in a 3‐yr‐old fish farm (EA) applied at 40 and 80 Mg ha −1 ; (ii) wastes taken from sediments under cages in an 8‐yr‐old farm (LM), applied at 10 and 20 Mg ha −1 ; (iii) the lowest waste rates amended with 50 kg ha −1 synthetic N; (iv) four synthetic fertilizer treatments including a single N rate of 80 kg N ha −1 and four P levels of 30, 40, 60, and 80 kg P ha −1 , and (v) a no‐fertilizer control. Although total N and P were higher in LM than in EA, and N mineralization rates in lab incubations were similar (13%), ryegrass yields and N uptake were much higher in EA than in LM. When mineralized N was estimated as the difference between added N and total N uptake, values were 50 to 63% for EA and 5 to 14% for LM. Ryegrass yields were approximately as follows: EA > FI > LM > Control. Synthetic fertilizer treatments showed the lowest values of P utilization efficiency, residual Olsen‐P in soil and plant P uptake in biomass, and the highest P retention in soils. The lowest waste rates with addition of N produced comparable ryegrass yields with the highest rates. Results emphasize: (i) the need to include living plants in mineralization potential evaluations to avoid significant errors in nutrient cycling models, and (ii) the importance of organic amendments in ameliorating plant P availability in high P‐fixing volcanic soils.