Abstract
A three-year field study was conducted to evaluate the impact of two different agro-industrial byproducts on soil properties, provisioning services, olive quality and production in a traditional rainfed olive grove to assess suitable management options for recycling organic wastes and reduce the use of inorganic fertilizers. The organic amendments consisted of compost (AC), made from residues from the olive oil industry (“alperujo”), and biosolid compost (BC), constituted of wastewater sludge and green waste from parks and gardens. The compost addition enhanced carbon storage, available phosphorous and potassium content overtime, whereas no effect was detected on soil hydraulics, yield and olive trees growth, partly due to the high variability encountered among plots. Beneficial effects, especially carbon storage, were more evident during the fourth sampling, where carbon content increased by almost 40% for BC, suggesting that compost effects need to be evaluated in the long term. Strong seasonal changes of most of the physico-chemical parameters were detected, and therefore the effect of the compost could have been partly masked. Establishing a non-climatic variation scenario would be advisable to fully detect compost effects. Our results suggest that different agro-industrial byproducts could be potentially viable and valuable source of fertilization, favoring in this way a circular economy of zero waste.
Highlights
Agriculture in the Mediterranean area has been crucial for the economic development of its countries
The soil treated with both rates of amendments consisted of compost (AC) compost increased the total organic organic carbon carbon (TOC) by 20–25% with respect to control soils after the two applications of the product
Compost of biosolid had different quantitative effects depending on the doses: biosolid compost (BC) increased the TOC by 20% with respect to the control, whereas an increase of nearly 50% was observed in BC+ treatment
Summary
Agriculture in the Mediterranean area has been crucial for the economic development of its countries. The cultivation of the olive tree has become the backbone of the socio-economic and cultural life of many regions of the Mediterranean countries [1]. This fruit tree has been cultivated commercially for more than 4000 years, and, until recently, it was largely restricted to the Mediterranean region where it was grown in low-density plots (about 100 trees per hectare) and in low-rainfall areas [2]. During the 1990s, the production methods began to change rapidly These changes were especially linked to an increase in density, a greater use of irrigation and an improvement in mechanization
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