Water Science & Technology Vol 65 No 11 pp 1903–1911 © IWA Publishing 2012 doi:10.2166/wst.2012.085

Effects of aluminium water treatment residuals, used as a soil amendment to control phosphorus mobility in agricultural soils

Barbro Ulén, Ararso Etana and Bodil Lindström

Phosphorus (P) leaching from agricultural soils is a serious environmental concern. Application of aluminium water treatment residuals (Al-WTRs) at a rate of 20 Mg ha⁻¹ to clay soils from central Sweden significantly increased mean topsoil P sorption index (PSI) from 4.6 to 5.5 μmol kg⁻¹ soil. Mean degree of P saturation in ammonium lactate extract (DPS-AL) significantly decreased from 17 to 13%, as did plant-available P (P-AL). Concentrations of dissolved reactive P (DRP) decreased by 10–85% in leaching water with Al-WTR treatments after exposure of topsoil lysimeters to simulated rain. Soil aggregate stability (AgS) for 15 test soils rarely improved. Three soils (clay loam, silty loam and loam sand) were tested in greenhouse pot experiments. Aluminium-WTR application of 15 or 30 ton ha⁻¹ to loam sand and a clay loam with P-AL values of 80–100 mg kg⁻¹ soil significantly increased growth of Italian ryegrass when fertilised with P but did not significantly affect growth of spring barley on any soil. Al-WTR should only be applied to soils with high P fertility where improved crop production is not required.

Keywords: aggregate stability; agricultural soils; dissolved phosphorus; particulate phosphorus; phosphorus leaching

Full article (PDF Format)