Boardmill sludge reduces phosphorus losses from conservation-tilled clay soil

Abstract

Conservation tillage has proved to be an effective option to reduce erosion and particulate phosphorus (PP) losses from fields to watercourses. However, it usually leads to the higher losses of P in dissolved reactive (DRP) form if P accumulates into the uppermost soil layer. In this study we investigated the influence of CaCO 3-rich boardmill sludge (BMS, applied 7 years ago) on soil properties and percolate quality with soil samples as well as undisturbed soil columns taken from a long-term conservation-tilled clay field experiment. A short-term laboratory experiment was undertaken to evaluate whether newly added BMS (FS) can be used to improve the quality of percolate waters by reducing turbidity, PP and DRP. The hypothesis was that BMS reduces the risk of dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP) leaching from conservation-tilled soil. BMS served as a liming agent and counteracted the no-till-induced acidification and accumulation of DRP in the surface soil layer. Surface soil pH was on average 0.3 units higher and soil Ca 500 mg kg −1 higher in the BMS-treated plots than in the plots without BMS. The ability of BMS to enhance the availability of P for plants may prevent the surface accumulation of P in NT cultivation. At the same time, BMS-induced increase in Ca and EC of the surface soil suppress the diffuse double layer by reducing P desorption and leaching risk. In the laboratory experiment, FS reduced percolate turbidity by 80% and PP and DRP concentrations by 62% and 50%, respectively. FS probably improved stability of soil aggregates in the laboratory experiment, obviously through enhanced microbial activity. The covering effect and infiltration of water through the 0–5 cm soil layer seemed to be crucial factors in reducing P losses. BMS proved to be a promising material for the applications to the conservation-tilled fields. The effect of BMS on microbes and immobilization of nutrients, should, however, be studied further in fields under a wider diversity of conditions.