Short-term effects of municipal solid waste compost amendments on soil carbon and nitrogen content, some enzyme activities and genetic diversity

Abstract

Municipal solid waste (MSW) composts have been frequently used as N and C amendments to improve soil quality and to support plant growth, with the additional benefit of reducing waste disposal costs. However, attention has been paid to the risks of MSW use for the soil environment. The presence of heavy metals in MSW composts can affect some microbiological characteristics of soil such as the structure of the soil microbiota, which are responsible for the transformations making nutrients available to plants. The effects of MSW compost and mineral-N amendments in a 2-year field trial on some physical-chemical properties, some enzyme activities and the genetic diversity of cropped plots (sugar beet-wheat rotation) and uncropped plots were investigated. Variations of pH were not statistically related to MSW compost and mineral-N amendments, or to the presence of the crop. Amendment with MSW compost increased the organic C and total N contents, and dehydrogenase and nitrate reductase activities of soil. In cropped plots amended with MSW compost, dehydrogenase activity was positively correlated with β-glucosidase activity, and both enzyme activities with organic C content. No MSW compost dosage effect was detected. No effects were observed on denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and amplified rDNA restriction analysis patterns, indicating that no significant change in the bacterial community occurred as a consequence of MSW amendment.