Effects of biobased fertilisers on soil physical, chemical and biological indicators – a one-year incubation study

Lærke Wester-Larsen; Lars Stoumann Jensen; Johannes Lund Jensen; Dorette Sophie Müller-Stöver

doi:10.1071/SR23213

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Next Contents Vol 62(3)

Effects of biobased fertilisers on soil physical, chemical and biological indicators – a one-year incubation study

Lærke Wester-Larsen ^A , Lars Stoumann Jensen ^A , Johannes Lund Jensen

^B ^C and Dorette Sophie Müller-Stöver

^A ^*

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Section for Plant and Soil Science, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, 1871 Frederiksberg C, Denmark.

^B Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Blichers Allé 20, 8830 Tjele, Denmark.

^C iClimate, Aarhus University Interdisciplinary Centre for Climate Change, Blichers Allé 20, 8830 Tjele, Denmark.

^* Correspondence to: dsst@plen.ku.dk

Handling Editor: Leo Condron

Soil Research 62, SR23213 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR23213

Submitted: 5 November 2023 Accepted: 5 February 2024 Published: 15 March 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC)

Abstract

Soil quality is declining in Europe and globally due to agricultural practices and climate change. The European market for novel biobased fertilisers (BBFs) is growing and the new European Union fertiliser regulation promotes their use. However, knowledge about the effects of many novel BBFs on soil quality is currently very limited. In a one-year laboratory incubation experiment, this study aimed to test the effect on biological (microbial biomass carbon (C)), physical (clay dispersibility and water-holding capacity) and chemical (pH, cation exchange capacity (CEC), total C and C in soil size fractions (<250, 50–250 and >50 μm)) soil quality indicators of 10 BBFs applied at two different rates on two soil types: an Arenosol and a Luvisol. The set-up also included a soil that was subjected to long-term annual application of the compost used in the incubation. The application of BBFs generally improved soil quality, with the compost material improving soil quality most, followed by a plant-based fertiliser and a biogas digestate. The effect of BBF application on CEC, total C and particulate organic matter (POM) was related to the amount of total C added with the BBF. Furthermore, the effect on total C and POM fractions was also related to easily decomposable C added with the BBF. Comparing the single accelerated application with annual application under field conditions indicated that the long-term incubation trial is a reasonable predictor of compost long-term effects in the field. Whether this applies to BBFs with very different properties remains to be shown.

Keywords: carbon size fractions, cation exchange capacity, clay dispersibility, microbial biomass, pH, soil organic matter, total carbon, water-holding capacity.

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