Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T12:39:57.915Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Use of organic amendments to increase the productivity of sand and gravel spoils: Effect on yield and composition of sweet corn

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2009

Sharon B. Hornick
Sharon B. Hornick
Affiliation:
Soil scientist, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, MD 20705.
Get access

Abstract

Crops grown on sand and gravel spoil areas are subject to temperature, moisture, and nutrient stresses due to the infertile, acidic, and coarse-textured properties of the spoil material. Additions of organic materials such as feedlot manure and sewage sludge compost applied at rates of 40, 80, and 160 Mg/ha were found to improve these spoil areas by providing (1) a more favorable pH for seedling germination and root development, (2) essential crop nutrients, and (3) a greatly increased water content of the spoils in the treated plots compared to fertilized controls. The manure-treated spoil plots had a higher water content than either the compost-treated spoils or the limed and fertilized control plots. In a drought year when the wastes were reapplied, both grain and stalk yields of sweet corn were highest for the manure-treated plots. The low heavy metal content makes these organic materials safe for use as soil conditioners. In addition, uptake and accumulation of toxic metals by sweet corn is generally less than other crops. The interaction between the kind and rate of organic amendment applied, the amount of rainfall in any given growing period, and the water content of the treated spoils determined the final nutrient composition of the stalks, leaves, and grain, as well as the grain and stalk yield.

Keywords

feedlot manuresewage sludge compostroot developmentmine spoilssoil water contentyieldssweet corn
Type
Articles
Information
American Journal of Alternative Agriculture , Volume 3 , Issue 4 , Fall 1988 , pp. 156 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Adams, F., and Evans, C. E.. 1962. A rapid method for measuring lime requirement of red-yellow podzalic soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. Proc. 26:355–357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Chaney, R. L., Hornick, S. B., and Simon, P. W.. 1976. Heavy metal relationships during land utilization of sewage sludge in the Northeast. In: R. E. Loehr (Editor), Land as a waste management alternative. Proceedings of the 8th Annual Agricultural Waste Mgmt. Conf., Rochester, N.Y., pp. 283–314.Google Scholar
3.Chaney, R. L., Bruins, R. J. F., Baker, D. E., Korcak, R. F., Smith, J. E., and Cole, D.. 1987. Transfer of sludge-applied trace elements to the food chain. In: Page, A. L., Logan, T. J. and Ryan, J. A. (Editors), Land application of sludge. Lewis Publishers, Inc., Chelsea, MI, pp. 67–99.Google Scholar
4.Chauhan, B. S., Stewart, J. W. B., and Paul, E. A.. 1979. Effect of carbon additions on soil labile inorganic and microbially held phosphate. Can. J. Soil Sci. 59:387–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Hornick, S. B. 1982a. Crop production on waste amended gravel spoils. In: Sopper, W. E., Seaker, E., and Bastian, R. K. (Editors), Land reclamation and biomass production with municipal wastewater and sludge. The Penn State Univ. Press, University Park, PA, pp. 207–218.Google Scholar
6.Hornick, S. B. 1982b. Organic wastes for revegetating marginal lands. Biocycle 23(4):42–43.Google Scholar
7.Hornick, S. B., and Parr, J. F.. 1987. Restoring the productivity of marginal soils with organic amendments. Amer. J. Alternative Agriculture 2(2):64–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Hornick, S. B., Sikora, L. J., Sterrett, S. B., Murray, J. J., Millner, P., Burge, W. D., Colacicco, D., Parr, J. F., Chaney, R. L., and Willson, G. B.. 1984. Utilization of sewage sludge compost as a soil conditioner and fertilizer for plant growth. USDA Agricultural Information Bulletin, No. 464, pp. 33.Google Scholar
9.Jackson, M. L. 1958. Soil chemical analysis. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., pp. 219–221.Google Scholar
10.Jacobs, L. W., O'Connor, G. A., Overcash, M. A., Zabik, M. J., Rygiewicz, P., Macho, P., Munger, S., and Elseewi, A. A.. 1987. Effects of trace organics in sewage sludges on soilplant systems and assessing their risk to humans. In: Page, A. L., Logan, T. J. and Ryan, J. A. (Editors), Land application of sludge. Lewis Publishers, Inc., Chelsea, MI, pp. 101–143.Google Scholar
11.Logan, T. J. and Chaney, R. L.. 1983. Utilization of municipal wastewater and sludge on land—Metals. In: Page, A. L., Gleason, T. L., Smith, J. E., Iskandar, I. K., and Sommers, L. E. (Editors), Proceedings of the workshop on utilization of municipal wastewater and sludge on land. University of CA, Riverside, CA, pp. 235–326.Google Scholar
12.Sahs, W. W., and Lesoing, G.. 1985. Crop rotations and manure versus agricultural chemicals in dryland grain production. J. Soil Water Conservation, 40:511–516.Google Scholar
13.Willson, G. B., Parr, J. F., Epstein, E., Marsh, P. B., Chaney, R. L., Colacicco, D., Burge, W. D., Sikora, L. J., Tester, C. F., and Hornick, S. B.. 1980. Manual for composting sewage sludge by the Beltsville Aerated-Pile Method. EPA-600/8–80–022. Available from National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA, 65 pp.Google Scholar