Abstract
To assess beneficial or detrimental plant growth effects when flue gas desulfurization by-products (FGD-BPs) are applied to acid soil, experiments were conducted in a greenhouse to determine growth of forages (orchardgrass, tall fescue, switchgrass, eastern gamagrass, white clover and alfalfa) on an acid pH 4.6 soil with different levels of three FGD-BPs and chemical-grade calcium carbonate (limestone), calcium sulfate and calcium sulfite. The FGD-BPs tested were high-CaSO 4, high-CaSO 4 enriched with Mg, and high-CaSO 3. Maximum total plant dry matter (DM) was obtained when ∼25% of high-CaSO 4 FGD-BP or ∼2.5% of high-CaSO 4 FGD-BP + Mg was incorporated into soil mixes; DM decreased at higher levels of addition. High-CaSO 3 FGD-BP benefited growth of all species when added at levels up to ∼3.0% in soil mixes. Beneficial plant responses were higher for the high-CaSO 4 FGD-BPs than for the high-CaSO 3 FGD-BP. Maximum beneficial plant responses for limestone were at ∼0.25–0.50% and for CaSO 4 at 50–75% in soil mixes, which were comparable with the high-CaSO 4 FGD-BP and high-CaSO 4 FGD-BP + Mg responses. Chemical-grade CaSO 3 gave no beneficial growth effects on any of the plant species. The FGD-BPs used in this study benefited forage growth when added at appropriate levels.
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