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Opportunity costs for maize associated with localised application of sewage sludge derived fertilisers, as indicated by early root and phosphorus uptake responses

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Abstract

Background

Phosphorus recycling from waste and localised placement of fertilisers can potentially improve sustainable P management in agriculture. However, knowledge about root and plant P uptake responses to placement of complex waste-derived fertilisers is lacking.

Methods

Sewage sludge (SS) and sewage sludge ash (ASH) were tested against triple superphosphate (TSP) in a rhizobox setup where maize shoot and root growth and architecture were followed for 30 days. The three P sources were either mixed homogenously into the soil (slightly acidic, low in available P and moderate P fixing capacity; labelled with 33P) or localised in a patch close to the seed.

Results

Localisation of TSP and SS both induced increased root length density in and around the fertiliser patch. For TSP this was followed by enhanced dry matter yield and fertiliser P uptake compared to the mixed source. In contrast, P uptake from SS was not enhanced by the localisation, and while the uptake from the seed was similar, the uptake from soil was lower probably due to weaker root development in the remaining soil. No root response was found for localised ASH, whereas mixed ASH more than doubled dry matter yield and P uptake in comparison.

Conclusions

Young maize plants’ responses to fertiliser localisation imply opportunity costs and under the given soil conditions, localisation of SS and ASH (contrary to TSP) did not entail an overall benefit for the plant.

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Abbreviations

TSP:

Triple super phosphate

SS:

Sewage sludge

ASH:

Sewage sludge ash

TSPloc and TSPmix :

Treatments with localised and mixed triple super phosphate respectively.

SSloc and SSmix :

Treatments with localised and mixed sewage sludge respectively.

ASHloc and ASHmix :

Treatments with localised and mixed sewage sludge ash respectively.

CON:

Control treatment with no amendment of P.

Pdf:

P derived from.

PUER:

P uptake efficiency of the roots

DAS:

Days after sowing.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Sean Case for proofreading of the manuscript. The study was conducted as part of the research projects IRMAR (funded by the Danish Council for Strategic Research); RoCo (part of the Organic RDD 2 programme, which is coordinated by International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems (ICROFS) and has received grants from the Green Growth and Development programme (GUDP) under the Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries.); and IMPROVE-P (financial support for this project was provided by transnational funding bodies, being partners of the FP7 ERA-net project, CORE Organic Plus, and the cofund from the European commission).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, 1871, Frederiksberg C, Denmark

    Camilla Lemming, Lars Stoumann Jensen & Jakob Magid

  2. Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zürich, Eschikon 33, 8315, Lindau, Switzerland

    Astrid Oberson & Andreas Hund

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  1. Camilla Lemming
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  2. Astrid Oberson
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  3. Andreas Hund
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  4. Lars Stoumann Jensen
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Correspondence to Jakob Magid.

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Lemming, C., Oberson, A., Hund, A. et al. Opportunity costs for maize associated with localised application of sewage sludge derived fertilisers, as indicated by early root and phosphorus uptake responses. Plant Soil 406, 201–217 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-016-2865-6

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