NUTRIENT DYNAMICS IN THE SPENTWASH APPLIED SOIL IN A LABORATORY INCUBATION EXPERIMENTP. KALAISELVI* AND S. MAHIMAIRAJA**Abstract Distillery spentwash contains all nutrients and organic matter and used in agriculture as a source of plant nutrients and irrigation water. Besides all the nutrients, spentwash contains appreciable amount of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). The effect of different levels of spentwash application on soil nurtient dynamics was examined through a laboratory closed incubation experiment. Application of different levels of spentwash had significant influence on soil N and P in soil. Both the NH4-N and NO3-N fractions markedly increased with increase in the levels of spentwash (140 m3). Results show that the spentwash not only adds mineral N (NH4-N and NO3-N) to soil, but also promotes the mineralization of soil organic N, thus resulting in large amounts of NH4-N and NO3- N in soil. The application of different levels of spentwash markedly increased the concentration of P also in the soil. Significant difference was observed in various P fractions during the incubation experiment. The increase in all the fractions of P might also be due to the dissolution of soil mineral P (apatite P). The present study was, therefore, undertaken to study the nutrient dynamics in soil under spentwash application and its impact on soil and environmental quality.
Enter your contact information below to receive full paper.
|