Effect of Various Meliorants on Respiration Intensity and Organic Carbon Content in the Soils of the Rostov Zoo

Abstract

Organic substances (sawdust, straw, leaf litter, needles, peat, sunflower husk, charcoal), synthetic moisture regulator (Aquaterra hydrogel), mineral adsorbents and diluents (glauconite sand, diatomite, vermiculite) were used as reclamation agents to optimize the ecological state of the soils of the enclosures of the Rostov-on-Don Zoo, agroperlite, zeolite), biological products (Tamir, potassium humate, Baikal EM), as well as a combination of potassium humate and sawdust). The best results were obtained when applying sawdust in doses of 5 and 10% of the soil weight. At the same time, biological processes in the soil intensified, which increased its ability to self-purify from animal metabolic products. The introduced sawdust mineralized with a strong increase in carbon dioxide emissions. The content of organic carbon in the soil at the same time by the end of the experiment (after 6 months) practically did not change.