Abstract
The application of industrial by-products to agricultural land has been a topic of considerable interest during recent years. For the industries, this is an attractive avenue to utilize the by-products rather than land filling. Agriculturists/horticulturists are faced with a new challenge to evaluate the potential advantages of this practice in terms of crop growth, production, and quality as well as effects of such practices on environmental quality. Fly ash and flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) gypsum are by-products produced from coal-fired electric power generation plants. There is a growing interest in evaluation of potential benefits of land application of coal combustion by products mixed with organic by-products. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of application of FGD gypsum, fly ash or chicken manure (each at 2 g/kg soil; equivalent to 4.48 Mg/ha), or application of the former two in combination with the latter, on soil properties as well as on growth and mineral nutrition of Cleopatra mandarin (CM; Citrus reticulata Blanco) and Swingle citrumelo (SC; Citrus paradisi Macf. × Poncirus trifoliata L. Raf.) rootstock seedlings grown on a Myakka sand (sandy, siliceous, hyperthermic, Aeric Haplaquod; pH = 5.8). The growth of seedlings of either rootstock improved significantly in soils amended with either FGD gypsum, fly ash, or chicken manure, individually or in combination of either by-product with chicken manure. However, the ranking of various amendments in relation to growth response differed between the two rootstocks. The combined application of all three amendments (each at 4 g/kg; equivalent to 8.96 Mg/ha) decreased the growth of both rootstock seedlings significantly as compared to that of seedlings in unamended soil. The application of either FGD gypsum, fly ash, or chicken manure each at 2 g/kg soil increased the concentration of Ca, Ca and K, and Ca and P in the leaves of seedlings, respectively.
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