Exchangeable cations, cation exchange capacity and base saturation in Brazilian soils amended with urban waste compost

Abstract

The use of urban organic solid waste compost as organic fertilizer is an important alternative to solid waste management. This waste has been applied to agricultural lands because of the benefits in relation to soil chemical properties. A greenhouse experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of the application of urban waste compost, at the rate of 30 g dm-3 (60 t ha-1), on the contents of exchangeable cations (K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, and Na+), on cation exchangeable capacity (CEC), and on base saturation (BS%) of 21 acid and 5 alkaline soils. The organic compost (collected at the São Matheus Plant Treatment, São Paulo, Brazil) was applied with or without dolomitic lime and mineral fertilizers. For alkaline soils, lime was substituted by gypsum. The experiment was carried out on a split-plot, completely randomized block design with three replicates. The compost application increased the exchangeable content of potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sodium on average of 195%, 200%, 86%, and 1200%, respectively, and elevated the CEC by 42% in acid soils. Consequently the BS% was increased 39%. A lower, but significant, increase on CEC was observed in alkaline soils in response to the compost application. Average CEC and BS% increases were of 8.4% and 2%, respectively. The highest effects on the evaluated soil properties were verified for compost + fertilizer + lime and compost + fertilizer + gypsum applications in acid and alkaline soils, respectively. It is concluded that the use of urban waste compost in agricultural lands is viable only if its effects on chemical properties are properly monitored.