Fly ash‐amended compost as a manure for agricultural crops

Abstract

Abstract Homemade organic compost prepared from lawn grass clippings was amended with fine fly ash collected from a coal‐fired power plant (SRS 484‐D, Savannah River Site, Aiken, SC) to investigate its usefulness as a manure in enhancing nutrient uptake and increasing dry matter yield in selected agricultural crops. Three treatments were compared: five crops (mustard, collard, string beans, bell pepper, and eggplant) were each grown on three kinds of soil: soil alone, soil amended with composted grass clippings, and soil amended with the mixed compost of grass clippings and 20% fly ash. The fly ash‐amended compost was found to be effective in enhancing the dry matter yield of collard greens and mustard greens by 378% and 348%, respectively, but string beans, bell pepper, and eggplant did not show any significant increase in dry matter yield. Analysis of the above‐ground biomass of these last three plants showed they assimilated high levels of boron, which is phytotoxic; and this may be the reason for thei...