Impact of lead and sewage sludge on soil microbial biomass and carbon and nitrogen mineralization.

Abstract

Sewage sludge disposal on arable land is viewed as a method to reduce waste accumulation and to enrich soil fertility. However, such disposal can degrade soil ecosystems due to the presence of potentially harmful substances, such as heavy metals. Pb has assumed greater significance because currently its dispersal through anthropogenic activities has exceeded the inputs from natural sources by about 17 fold. Several soil variables such as texture, organic matter content, clay, cation exchange capacity, soil pH, and CaCO{sub 3} content influence the toxic effects of heavy metals on sol microbes and their activities. Microbes have an essential function in cycling of nutrients through mineralization activities. However, the addition of 375 and 1500 {mu}g Pb g{sup -1} soil in sandy loam and clay loam has been reported to cause a 15% decrease in soil microbial respiration. Contrarily, in an organic soil microbial respiration and enzyme activities were observed to remain unaltered by the addition of 1000 {mu}g Pb g{sup -1} soil. While the nitrification process in a sandy loam soil has been reported to be significantly inhibited at 100 {mu}g Pb g{sup -1} soil, the addition of similar amount of Pb to alluvial and clay loam had no effect onmore » nitrification and ammonifying and nitrifying bacteria. This study assesses the effects of lead and sewages sludge on microbial biomass and mineralization processes in soils of varied texture and organic matter content. 17 refs., 4 tabs.« less