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Effect of Urban Waste Compost Application on Soil Near‐Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity
Author(s) -
Schneider S.,
Coquet Y.,
Vachier P.,
Labat C.,
RogerEstrade J.,
Benoit P.,
Pot V.,
Houot S.
Publication year - 2009
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/jeq2008.0098
Subject(s) - compost , infiltrometer , loam , hydraulic conductivity , topsoil , environmental science , infiltration (hvac) , soil structure , agronomy , green waste , soil fertility , soil science , soil water , materials science , biology , composite material
Compost application tends to increase soil fertility and is likely to modify soil hydrodynamic properties by acting on soil structural porosity. Two composts, a municipal solid waste compost (MSW) and a co‐compost of green wastes and sewage sludge (SGW), have been applied every other year for 6 yr to cultivated plots located on a silt loam soil in the Parisian Basin, France. Four soil zones were defined in the topsoil after plowing: the plowpan located at the base of the plowed layer, compacted (Δ) or noncompacted (Γ) zones located within the plowed layer, and interfurrows created by plowing and containing a large quantity of crop residues together with the recently‐applied compost. To assess the effect of compost application on the near‐saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, infiltration rates were measured using a tension disc infiltrometer at three water pressure potentials −0.6, −0.2, and −0.05 kPa in the various zones of the soil profile. Compost addition decreased K (sat) in the interfurrows after plowing by almost one order of magnitude with average values of 5.6 × 10 −5 m.s −1 in the MSW plot and 4.1 × 10 −5 m.s −1 in the SGW plot, against 2.2 × 10 −4 m.s −1 in the control plot. This effect had disappeared 6 mo after plowing when the average K (sat) in the control plot had decreased to 1.9 × 10 −5 m.s −1 while that in the compost‐amended plots remained stable.