Abstract

Core lysimeters containing undisturbed coarse sandy soil (from grassland) were amended with a high rate of anaerobically digested sewage sludge (equivalent to >1,000 t ha−1). Water, at a rate equivalent to the mean weekly rainfall for the soil, was applied to amended and control lysimeters for 30 weeks and the leachate analysed for anions and cations. Lysimeters were also destructively sampled at intervals throughout the experiment and soil samples were analysed for extractable NH4+-N, NO3−-N and PO43−-P. Ammonium N leached for about 11 weeks from the amended lysimeters, then abruptly stopped. A similar amount of NO3−-N leached, but leaching was continuing when the experiment finished. The control lysimeters leached as much NO3−-N as those that were amended, but no NH4+-N. The amended lysimeters also leached NO2−-N. Negligible PO43−-P, but large amounts of SO42− were leached from the amended lysimeters. Concentrations of extractable NH4+-N and PO43−-P were very high in the amended soils, but NO3−-N concentrations remained low throughout the experiment, indicating that nitrification rates were low and/or that denitrification rates were high.

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