Does sewage sludge amendment to soil enhance the development of Silver birch and Scots pine?
Sewage sludge can be used to improve forestry soil properties, because it is rich in phosphorus, nitrogen and organic material and, thus, can enhance the growth of tree seedlings in poor quality soils. Our study was performed on a site amended with industrial sewage sludge and aff orested with birch...
Main Authors: | , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
2010-12-01
|
Series: | Hungarian Geographical Bulletin |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://ojs3.mtak.hu/index.php/hungeobull/article/view/3118 |
id |
doaj-b0661590946149a08c5b2ec37008526a |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-b0661590946149a08c5b2ec37008526a2020-11-25T02:17:06ZengResearch Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Hungarian Academy of SciencesHungarian Geographical Bulletin2064-50312064-51472010-12-015943934103118Does sewage sludge amendment to soil enhance the development of Silver birch and Scots pine?Dovilė Vaitkutė0Edita Baltrėnaitė1Colin A Booth2Michael A Fullen3Department of Environmental Protection, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Vilnius, LithuaniaDepartment of Environmental Protection, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Vilnius, LithuaniaSchool of Technology, The University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom School of Applied Sciences, University of Wolverhampton, United KingdomSewage sludge can be used to improve forestry soil properties, because it is rich in phosphorus, nitrogen and organic material and, thus, can enhance the growth of tree seedlings in poor quality soils. Our study was performed on a site amended with industrial sewage sludge and aff orested with birch and pine seedlings. To evaluate the growth of tree seedlings, tree dry biomass, height, diameter, root/shoot ratio, specific root length, shoot and root length were calculated. Higher concentrations of heavy metals and no significant increase in the biomass of trees on sewage sludge amended soil suggest an inhibitory effect of heavy metals on tree biomass growth. The site treated with sewage sludge had signifi cantly higher soil moisture content, soil pH, total copper and total lead concentrations and significantly lower exchangeable acidity. Tree tissues at the sewage sludge treated site contain significantly higher concentrations of copper and cadmium. Therefore, both positive and negative impacts of treatment are apparent. In terms of management strategies, it is recommended that the chemical quality of sewage sludge is analyzed prior to possible field applications and only sewage sludges with toxic heavy metal concentrations below accepted safety limits are applied.https://ojs3.mtak.hu/index.php/hungeobull/article/view/3118betula pendula roth.biomasspinus sylvestris l.heavy metalsroot/shoot ratiosewage sludgespecific root length |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Dovilė Vaitkutė Edita Baltrėnaitė Colin A Booth Michael A Fullen |
spellingShingle |
Dovilė Vaitkutė Edita Baltrėnaitė Colin A Booth Michael A Fullen Does sewage sludge amendment to soil enhance the development of Silver birch and Scots pine? Hungarian Geographical Bulletin betula pendula roth. biomass pinus sylvestris l. heavy metals root/shoot ratio sewage sludge specific root length |
author_facet |
Dovilė Vaitkutė Edita Baltrėnaitė Colin A Booth Michael A Fullen |
author_sort |
Dovilė Vaitkutė |
title |
Does sewage sludge amendment to soil enhance the development of Silver birch and Scots pine? |
title_short |
Does sewage sludge amendment to soil enhance the development of Silver birch and Scots pine? |
title_full |
Does sewage sludge amendment to soil enhance the development of Silver birch and Scots pine? |
title_fullStr |
Does sewage sludge amendment to soil enhance the development of Silver birch and Scots pine? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Does sewage sludge amendment to soil enhance the development of Silver birch and Scots pine? |
title_sort |
does sewage sludge amendment to soil enhance the development of silver birch and scots pine? |
publisher |
Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences |
series |
Hungarian Geographical Bulletin |
issn |
2064-5031 2064-5147 |
publishDate |
2010-12-01 |
description |
Sewage sludge can be used to improve forestry soil properties, because it is rich in phosphorus, nitrogen and organic material and, thus, can enhance the growth of tree seedlings in poor quality soils. Our study was performed on a site amended with industrial sewage sludge and aff orested with birch and pine seedlings. To evaluate the growth of tree seedlings, tree dry biomass, height, diameter, root/shoot ratio, specific root length, shoot and root length were calculated. Higher concentrations of heavy metals and no significant increase in the biomass of trees on sewage sludge amended soil suggest an inhibitory effect of heavy metals on tree biomass growth.
The site treated with sewage sludge had signifi cantly higher soil moisture content, soil pH, total copper and total lead concentrations and significantly lower exchangeable acidity. Tree tissues at the sewage sludge treated site contain significantly higher concentrations of copper and cadmium. Therefore, both positive and negative impacts of treatment are apparent. In terms of management strategies, it is recommended that the chemical quality of sewage sludge is analyzed prior to possible field applications and only sewage sludges with toxic heavy metal concentrations below accepted safety limits are applied. |
topic |
betula pendula roth. biomass pinus sylvestris l. heavy metals root/shoot ratio sewage sludge specific root length |
url |
https://ojs3.mtak.hu/index.php/hungeobull/article/view/3118 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT dovilevaitkute doessewagesludgeamendmenttosoilenhancethedevelopmentofsilverbirchandscotspine AT editabaltrenaite doessewagesludgeamendmenttosoilenhancethedevelopmentofsilverbirchandscotspine AT colinabooth doessewagesludgeamendmenttosoilenhancethedevelopmentofsilverbirchandscotspine AT michaelafullen doessewagesludgeamendmenttosoilenhancethedevelopmentofsilverbirchandscotspine |
_version_ |
1724888071143424000 |