ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF FERTILIZERS FROM SEWAGE SLUDGE ON SALT ACCUMULATION IN SOILS

Authors:Manzhina Svetlana A., Rusin Lev I.

628.381.1
Theme: Land reclamation, water manadgement and agrophysics
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Annotation

Purpose: to study the salt composition of sewage sludge used as fertilizer and its effect on soil agrochemical parameters.

Materials and methods. The samples from the sludge maps of the Kadamovskie sewage treatment plants over a three-year period of placement were collected for the study. Soils classified as ordinary chernozems with medium loamy and heavy loamy mechanical composition were used for field studies in vegetation and field experiments. The impact of the applied sludge on soil texture and their salinity was assessed. The degree of soil salinity was determined according to the accepted methods.

Results. Analysis of water extract of soil samples after the pot studies indicates a reliably detected increase in the salt content. An increase in the amount of calcium and sulfate ions is recorded, the content of other ions either remains unchanged or fluctuates within the limits of laboratory error. The results of the study of soil water extract from experimental plots indicate an increase in the calcium ion content by 16.7 % with the application of 28 t/ha of sediment, by 33 % with the application of 56 t/ha, and by 36.7 % with the application of 84 t/ha. The increase in the amount of sulfates in the aqueous extract was 6.6 % with the application of 5 t/ha of sediment, 81.7 % with the application of 28 t/ha, the sulfate content tripled with the application of 56 t/ha, and quadrupled with the use of 84 t/ha of sediment. The data obtained on the soil water extract at the end of the field experiment using sewage sludge as fertilizer at various single application rates confirmed the results previously obtained in pot studies.

Conclusions. Field studies of the impact of sewage sludge on the salt composition of soils have revealed a reliably confirmed increase in the calcium and sulfate ion content of their water extracts, with the amount of the latter increasing several-fold.

doi: 10.31774/2712-9357-2026-16-2-146-166

Keywords

sewage sludge, soil water extract, salt accumulation, salinization, toxic salts, toxic sulfate ion, cumulative effect of toxic ions

For quoting

Manzhina S. A., Rusin L. I. Assessing the impact of fertilizers from sewage sludge on salt accumulation in soils. Land Reclamation and Hydraulic Engineering. 2026;16(2):146–166. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.31774/2712-9357-2026-16-2-146-166.

Authors

S. A. Manzhina – Senior Researcher, Candidate of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor, Russian Scientific Research Institute of Land Improvement Problems (346421, Rostov region, Novocherkassk, Baklanovsky Ave., 190), manz.svetlana@yandex.ru, AuthorID: 861972, ORCID: 0000-0001-9322-0843;

L. I. Rusin – Postgraduate Student, Russian Scientific Research Institute of Land Improvement Problems (346421, Rostov region, Novocherkassk, Baklanovsky Ave., 190), leva19111@icloud.com, AuthorID: 1204138, ORCID: 0009-0007-8802-4726.

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