Improving Guidelines for the Plant Available Nitrogen Value of Biosolids from Wastewater Treatment

It is important to accurately quantify the amount of plant available nitrogen (PAN) in land applied biosolids to achievemaximum crop production, yet reduce the risk of pollution through nitrate leaching and gaseous losses following excess applications or incorrect management. For this reason, biosol...

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Main Authors: Rigby, Hannah, Pritchard, Deborah, Collins, David, Walton, K., Allen, D., Penney, N.
Format: Journal Article
Published: DEStech Publications, Inc. 2010
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/3989
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author Rigby, Hannah
Pritchard, Deborah
Collins, David
Walton, K.
Allen, D.
Penney, N.
author_facet Rigby, Hannah
Pritchard, Deborah
Collins, David
Walton, K.
Allen, D.
Penney, N.
author_sort Rigby, Hannah
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description It is important to accurately quantify the amount of plant available nitrogen (PAN) in land applied biosolids to achievemaximum crop production, yet reduce the risk of pollution through nitrate leaching and gaseous losses following excess applications or incorrect management. For this reason, biosolids application rates are frequently determined by the PAN content based on the mineralisable portion of the organic nitrogen (N). The findings of this field experiment, conducted in an acidic sand under aMediterranean-type climate inWestern Australia, demonstrate that the PAN of biosolids relative to an inorganic source of N is dependent on the treatment method of the biosolids, with greater PAN from lime amended biosolids (65.1%) and alum-dosed biosolids (63.4%) in comparison to dewatered biosolids cake (39.4%). The amount of organic N that becomes available in the first season may be 2–3 times greater than the current estimate of 20% used to calculate application rates inWestern Australia. It is suggested that current biosolids guidelines in Australia require further investigation to maximise crop yield andeconomic benefits of biosolids application and prevent pollution from leaching of excess mineral N.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-39892017-01-30T10:35:42Z Improving Guidelines for the Plant Available Nitrogen Value of Biosolids from Wastewater Treatment Rigby, Hannah Pritchard, Deborah Collins, David Walton, K. Allen, D. Penney, N. plant available nitrogen biosolids nitrogen mineralisation alum-sludge lime-amended biosolids It is important to accurately quantify the amount of plant available nitrogen (PAN) in land applied biosolids to achievemaximum crop production, yet reduce the risk of pollution through nitrate leaching and gaseous losses following excess applications or incorrect management. For this reason, biosolids application rates are frequently determined by the PAN content based on the mineralisable portion of the organic nitrogen (N). The findings of this field experiment, conducted in an acidic sand under aMediterranean-type climate inWestern Australia, demonstrate that the PAN of biosolids relative to an inorganic source of N is dependent on the treatment method of the biosolids, with greater PAN from lime amended biosolids (65.1%) and alum-dosed biosolids (63.4%) in comparison to dewatered biosolids cake (39.4%). The amount of organic N that becomes available in the first season may be 2–3 times greater than the current estimate of 20% used to calculate application rates inWestern Australia. It is suggested that current biosolids guidelines in Australia require further investigation to maximise crop yield andeconomic benefits of biosolids application and prevent pollution from leaching of excess mineral N. 2010 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/3989 DEStech Publications, Inc. restricted
spellingShingle plant available nitrogen
biosolids
nitrogen mineralisation
alum-sludge
lime-amended biosolids
Rigby, Hannah
Pritchard, Deborah
Collins, David
Walton, K.
Allen, D.
Penney, N.
Improving Guidelines for the Plant Available Nitrogen Value of Biosolids from Wastewater Treatment
title Improving Guidelines for the Plant Available Nitrogen Value of Biosolids from Wastewater Treatment
title_full Improving Guidelines for the Plant Available Nitrogen Value of Biosolids from Wastewater Treatment
title_fullStr Improving Guidelines for the Plant Available Nitrogen Value of Biosolids from Wastewater Treatment
title_full_unstemmed Improving Guidelines for the Plant Available Nitrogen Value of Biosolids from Wastewater Treatment
title_short Improving Guidelines for the Plant Available Nitrogen Value of Biosolids from Wastewater Treatment
title_sort improving guidelines for the plant available nitrogen value of biosolids from wastewater treatment
topic plant available nitrogen
biosolids
nitrogen mineralisation
alum-sludge
lime-amended biosolids
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/3989