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Soil properties and microbial ecology of a paddy field after repeated applications of domestic and industrial sewage sludges

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Abstract

The effects of repeated application of two types of sewage sludge, domestic and industrial (petrochemical, PSS) sludges, into paddy fields over a 5-year period on the soil properties and microbial ecology were studied and compared with conventional NPK fertilizer application. Soil organic matter and total nitrogen contents were significantly higher in the two sludge treatments than that in fertilized plots after 5 years. Soil concentrations of potentially toxic metals were low after 5 years of both sludge treatments, but the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) showed differences between the two sludge types. Concentrations of high-molecular-weight PAHs were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the petrochemical sludge treatment than the domestic sludge treatment or the fertilizer control, although the total concentrations of 16 types of PAH in the petrochemical sludge treatment were only slightly higher than in the domestic sludge treatment and the control. The biological toxicity of soil dimethyl sulfoxide extracts from the petrochemical sludge treatment was also significantly higher (p < 0.05) than those from the fertilizer control and the domestic sludge treatment when evaluated using Photobacterium phosphoreum T3. Both types of sewage sludge increased soil microbial activity, but only the petrochemical sludge led to enrichment with specific PAH degraders such as Mycobacterium, Nocardioides, and Sphingomonas.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41671325) and the Key Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KFZD-SW-303) for financial support.

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Correspondence to Wuxing Liu.

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Responsible editor: Zhihong Xu

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Liu, X., Liu, W., Wang, Q. et al. Soil properties and microbial ecology of a paddy field after repeated applications of domestic and industrial sewage sludges. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 8619–8628 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8543-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8543-2

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