Published online April 11, 2006

Effect of Spring Application of a Paper Mill Soil Conditioner on Corn Yield

William E. Curnoe,* David C. Irving, Charles B. Dow, George Velema, and Adrian Unc ABSTRACT
Use of paper mill residuals as soil amendment on farmland is believed to have a beneficial impact on crop yields and soil quality. The objective of our study was to evaluate the effect of spring applying Domtar Soil Conditioner (SC) (pulp and paper mill waste water treatment residue) to a sandy soil in eastern Ontario, Canada. The effects of SC on corn (Zea mays L.) yields, N concentrations in plants, and post-harvest levels in soil of NO3, P, K, Mg, organic matter (OM), and pH were investigated. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with five treatments, replicated four times. The treatments included two SC rates (15 and 25 Mg ha21 dry matter: SC15 and SC25), 150 kg ha21 NH4NO3N (N150), a composite SC and mineral fertilizer treatment (15 Mg ha21 dry matter SC and 75 kg ha21 NH4NO3N: SC15N75), and a control. The experiment was repeated annually from 1997 to 2001. Addition of SC the spring before planting increased grain yield by 2360 kg ha21 for SC15 and by 2908 kg ha21 for SC25 vs. the control. When N was also added (SC15N75), the average increase vs. the control was 3406 kg ha21. More total N was measured in the corn plants from the plots amended with SC than the control. The SC amendments temporarily increased soil OM but did not increase NO3N leaching risk. Annual spring application of SC improved corn yield but had little impact on soil nutrient levels, OM, and pH.
EVERAL avenues have been considered for the safe disposal and reuse of paper mill wastes. Landfilling with or without incineration or precomposting is the most common disposal method. They have also been used as landfill covers, given their capability to form relatively impermeable layers when compacted (MooYoung and Zimmie, 1997), and have been proposed for use in controlling acid mine drainage due to their alkaline pH (Bellaloui et al., 1999; Chtaini et al., 2001). Recovery and reuse of ash following incineration may pose technical difficulties and may not be cost or energy efficient (Koshikawa and Isogai, 2004). Composted paper mill wastes have been proposed as good soil conditioners because of their high OM content and low toxicity (Rantala et al., 1999). Nutrient content of paper mill residuals can have a beneficial effect on crops (Bellamy et al., 1995). Numerous studies have investigated the role of these materials for increasing the C content of soils and improving the structural stability of soils and their waterholding capacity (Chantigny et al., 1999; Nemati et al.,

W.E. Curnoe, D.C. Irving, and C.B. Dow, Univ. of Guelph, Kemptville College 830 Prescott Street, Kemptville, ON, K0G 1JO, Canada; G. Velema, Domtar, Second Street West, Cornwall, ON, K6H 5S3; and A. Unc, Univ. of Ottawa, 451 Smyth Rd. Ottawa, ON, K1H 8M5, Canada. Received 2 Feb. 2005. *Corresponding author (bcurnoe@ kemptvillec.uoguelph.ca). Published in Agron. J. 98:423429 (2006). Biosolids doi:10.2134/agronj2005.0041 American Society of Agronomy 677 S. Segoe Rd., Madison, WI 53711 USA

2000; Zibilske et al., 2000; Foley and Cooperband, 2002). Short-term application to cultivated land has been shown to have no negative impact on the soil properties (Beyer et al., 1997). Long-term heavy application of paper mill sludge had a positive effect on the number and diversity of earthworms at a land restoration site (Piearce et al., 2003). Lignin can be a significant component of paper mill sludge. Pot experiments showed that addition of lignin increased soil pH, cation-exchange capacity, and OM content (Zhang et al., 2004). Forest application of paper mill wastes for hardwood tree growth has given mixed results (Feldkirchner et al., 2003). Phillips et al. (1998) conducted a comprehensive study on the effects of paper mill sludge amendments on the yield of grass and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grown on sandy and clay soils. The results of their study indicated notable improvements in the soil fertility parameters but failed to show any significant increase in the yield of grass or wheat at the treated sites. At their experimental site, however, regular mineral fertilization was employed with no credit given to the nutrient content of the sludge. Long-term research has shown that sewage sludge can have a positive impact on corn yield (Linden et al., 1995) but the same type of research for paper mill residuals is lacking. A pot experiment showed that amending soils with extremely large amounts of paper mill sludge may have a negative impact on the bioavailability of N and P, thus reducing their uptake by corn. This deficiency could be corrected by adding mineral N fertilizer (OBrien et al., 2002). Treatment of soil with composted paper mill residuals has been shown to reduce the incidence of certain plant diseases independent of the physiological and developmental state of the plants (Vallad et al., 2003), which is in agreement with results obtained with other N-high amendments (Tenuta and Lazarovits, 2004). A significant unknown associated with the use of paper mill soil conditioners to crops is the rate of release through mineralization of the available nutrients during the cropping season and thus the impact on yield. Some limited research was conducted on decomposition of de-inking paper sludge (Chantigny et al., 1999; Fierro et al., 2000) but these results are not necessarily applicable to other types of paper mill sludge with different C/N ratios. Because significant research was done on the impact of paper mill biosolids on remediation and restoration of degraded soils, such materials are mostly proposed as soil conditioners. Research is required to assess the
Abbreviations: N150, 150 kg ha21 of NH4NO3N; OM, soil organic matter; SC, Domtar paper mill soil conditioner; SC15, amendment of 15 Mg ha21 dry matter soil conditioner; SC25, amendment of 25 Mg ha21 dry matter soil conditioner; SC15N75, amendment of 15 Mg ha21 dry matter soil conditioner plus 75 kg ha21 of NH4NO3N.

Reproduced from Agronomy Journal. Published by American Society of Agronomy. All copyrights reserved.

423

424

AGRONOMY JOURNAL, VOL. 98, MAYJUNE 2006

agronomic benefits of paper mill residuals to crops in long-term field trials. The objective of our study was to evaluate the effect of land application of a pulp and paper mill residue on corn grain yield during a 5-yr period while monitoring its effects on soil properties. MATERIALS AND METHODS Reproduced from Agronomy Journal. Published by American Society of Agronomy. All copyrights reserved.
Field trials were conducted in eastern Ontario, Canada, during a period of 5 yr (19972001) on a Kars sandy loam (eluviated melanic Luvisol). Soil samples were collected each year before planting and after harvest from the 0- to 15-, 15- to 30-, and 30- to 45-cm depths. Composite soil samples of two cores (2.5-cm i.d., 15-cm length) from each plot were used for testing. Samples from the 0- to 15-cm soil depth were tested for pH (1:1 soil/water ratio, Sheldrick, 1984), Olsen-P (measured colorimetrically, Olsen and Sommers, 1982), exchangeable K, Ca, and Mg (NH4OAc-extractable, Sheldrick, 1984), and OM content (loss on ignition, Sheldrick, 1984). Soil samples from all three depths were tested for NO3N (Keeney and Nelson, 1982). The initial level of NO3N in the spring of 1997 at the 0- to 15-cm depth was 6.17 mg kg21 or very low (Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, 1995). No NH4 levels were measured at this time. The N level of the soil was not adequate for corn growth in the control treatment (Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, 1995). At the start of the trial, the soil had a very high concentration of P (,60 mg kg21 of Olsen-P) and, therefore, under Ontario recommendations (Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, 1995), did not require any supplementary P fertilization. The soil had a pH of 6.9, and an average OM content of 25 g kg21. The Mg content at 55 mg kg21 was at the limit of deficiency (Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, 1995). The soil also contained 108 mg kg21 of K, which the Ontario recommendations rate as medium and requires a supplementary K fertilization of 30 kg ha21 for optimum corn growth and yield (Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, 1995). The Ca content of this soil (1330 mg kg21) was not a limiting factor to corn growth and yield (Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, 1995). Treatments Treatments included a combination of a soil conditioner (SC) obtained from the secondary treatment stage of a paper mill waste water treatment plant (Domtar Paper Mill, Cornwall, Ontario) and NH4NO3N. A four-block randomized design with five treatments was used. The treatments in-

cluded two SC rates (SC15 and SC25), 150 kg ha21 NH4NO3N (N150), a composite SC and mineral fertilizer treatment (SC15N75), and an unamended, unfertilized control. Both amendments and fertilizer were applied in the spring before corn planting. The NH4NO3N was applied according to the recommended N rate for the area (Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, 1995). The total mineral content of the SC was measured by atomic absorption (Sheldrick, 1984) and total N was measured by the Kjeldahl method (Bremner and Mulvaney, 1982). All other properties of the SC (Table 1) were measured similarly to soil properties. The dry matter content of the soil conditioner during the trial period, from 1997 to 2001, was constant at 0.3 kg kg21. Each plot was 3.66 m wide (four rows) and 13.7 m long. The soil conditioner was spread by hand each spring from 18 to 26 April during the 5 yr. In general the only commercial fertilizer applied during the trial was the NH4NO3 that was applied at the same time as the SC on the respective plots; however, the farmer on whose farm the trial was situated applied 185 kg ha21 K on 3 May 2000 and 300 kg ha21 K on 30 Apr. 2001. The land was subsequently cultivated and corn was planted. The planting dates during the 5 yr of the trial varied due to weather conditions from 27 April to 5 May. Five corn varieties were used during the trial: Mycogen 2880 in 1997, Novartis 2600 N17-C5 in 1998, Pride 115 in 1999, Mycogen 2242 in 2000, and Pride K115 in 2001. Weed control was practiced during the trial as needed using several Ontario recommended herbicides [s-metolachlor (2-chloro-N-(2-ethyl-6-methylphenyl)-N-[(1S)-2-methoxy-1methylethyl]acetamide) plus atrazine (6-chloro-N-ethyl-N-(1methylethyl)-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diamine), nicosulfuron (2-[[[[(4,6-dimethoxy-2-pyrimidinyl)amino]carbonyl]amino]sulfonyl]-N,N-dimethyl-3-pyridinecarboxamide), prosulfuron (N-[[(4-methoxy-6-methyl-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)amino]carbonyl]2-(3,3,3-trifluoropropyl)benzenesulfonamide) plus dicamba (3,6-dichloro-2-methoxybenzoic acid), and isoxaflutole ((5-cyclopropyl-4-isoxazolyl)[2-(methylsulfonyl)-4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]methanone) plus atrazine]. Tissue and Crop Measurements Tissue samples were taken from all plots at the five-leaf, silking, and grain harvest stage in 1998, 2000, and 2001. At the five-leaf stage, 10 whole plants from non-harvest rows were collected from each plot. At silking, the leaf below and opposite the cob leaf in non-harvest rows was taken from 10 plants in each plot. At harvest, a grain subsample from each plot was collected. No grain sample was collected in 2001 as the corn development was delayed due to drought. Plant material was dried at 37.58C for 3 to 5 d, ground into a fine powder, and tested for total Kjeldahl N (Bremner and Mulvaney, 1982).

Table 1. Chemical characteristics of the paper mill soil conditioner (SC).

Year Parameter Organic matter, g kg21 dry matter Total C, g kg21 dry matter NH3N, mg kg21 dry matter NO3N, mg kg21 dry matter Total Kjeldahl N, g kg21 dry matter C/N ratio Total K, mg kg21 dry matter Total Mg, mg kg21 dry matter Total Ca, mg kg21 dry matter Total Na, mg kg21 dry matter pH 1997 801 409 1 178 2.7 18.1 22.6 783 1 760 34 670 928 7.8 1998 858 423 779 0.76 18.3 23.1 982 900 670 183 7.3 1999 854 462 2 109 0.55 17.3 26.7 913 1 820 26 080 1 114 7.4 2000 735 381 5 000 15.0 33.6 16.1 1410 590 13 600 1 230 7.4 2001 830 415 1088 8.0 23.3 17.8 1002 485 857 7.3

1 22 1

The dry matter content of the soil conditioner was constant during the 5 yr at 0.3 kg kg21.

CURNOE ET AL.: SPRING APPLICATION OF PAPER MILL SOIL CONDITIONER ON CORN

425

Table 2. Average corn grain yield (19972000) and silage yield (2001) for each treatment.
Treatment Year 19972000 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001# Control 1915 777 2895 2718 1268 525 N150 4009 987 5072 5639 4337 2190 SC15 kg ha21 grain or silage yield 4275 1730 4973 4784 5613 2140 SC15N75 5321 2087 6264 6199 6734 2780 SC25 4823 1877 5498 5543 6373 2025 SE 240 (69) 367 (12) 354 (12) 420 (12) 337 (12) 383 (12) CV % 23.6 49.2 14.3 16.9 13.8 39.6

Reproduced from Agronomy Journal. Published by American Society of Agronomy. All copyrights reserved.

Treatments: N150150 kg ha21 of NH4NO3N; SC1515 Mg ha21 dry matter soil conditioner; SC15N7515 Mg ha21 dry matter soil conditioner and 75 kg ha21 NH4NO3N; SC2525 Mg ha21 dry matter soil conditioner. Standard error of means with degrees of freedom in parentheses. Coefficient of variation. Grain yield standardized at 155 g kg21 moisture content. # No grain, only silage, was harvested in 2001 due to drought; measurements for silage yield presented as dry matter content.

At harvest, the center two rows from the four rows of corn of each plot were harvested by hand, and the cobs were put through a Uni-system combine, which shelled and weighed the grain for each plot. The grain moisture content was measured with a Dickey-John GAC2000 grain analyzer and the grain yield was adjusted to 155 g kg21 moisture content. The drought of 2001 delayed corn development and the corn had to be harvested as silage. For the silage harvest, plants were collected from two 3-m-long rows; two representative stalks and cobs were selected for each row, dried at 37.58C for 7 d, and weighed. Data Analysis Statistical analyses were carried out using the Genstat statistical software (VSN International Ltd., 2004). Statistical analyses on grain or silage yields for each year were performed by using the one-way ANOVA (analysis of variance) module with blocking to assess the main effect of treatment. When the data for all years were combined (grain yields only), both the main effects of treatment and year and their interaction were analyzed using the two-way ANOVA module with blocking. Because an incomplete set of samples was collected for the soil and plant tissue measurements, the general ANOVA module was used for these analyses. Selected contrasts were used in all these analyses for specific treatment comparison. The potential relationship between grain or silage yield and the different forms of N in the SC and the mineral fertilizer was estimated using multiple linear regression analyses; this allowed an indirect evaluation of the plant availability of SC N. The total amount of N added in the SC treatments varied from year to year as the available and total Kjeldahl N varied; therefore,

these values were calculated separately for each year and treatment using the information from Table 1, and they were used for the multiple regression analyses. Graphics were generated using the Minitab (Minitab, 2004) statistical package. Differences were declared significant at P , 0.05.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Corn Yield

Corn yields are presented in Table 2. Analysis of variance indicated that both treatment type and year had a significant effect on the grain corn yield in 1997 to 2000 (P , 0.001 for both factors and their interaction). The treatment type also had a significant impact on the silage yield in 2001 (P 5 0.015). Every treatment led to significant increases in the grain yield (19982000) or silage yield (2001) compared to the unamended and unfertilized control. Addition of SC at the two rates led to an average increase in grain yield (19972000) of 2360 to 2908 kg ha21. In the first year of the trial (1997), the grain yield was greater than the control for every treatment (Table 2) but extreme variability in grain yield due to late drought resulted in a statistically insignificant means separation, except for the SC15N75control comparison (Table 3). The greatest yield was consistently obtained from the SC15N75 treatment, which combined the SC and NH4NO3N (Table 2); however, in all years except 2000, this treatment was statistically comparable with the SC15 treatment, which had the same amount of

Table 3. Contrasts for grain yield (19972000) and silage yield (2001) under different treatments.
Contrast N150 vs. control SC15 vs. control SC15N75 vs. control SC25 vs. control N150 vs. SC15N75 N150 vs. SC15 N150 vs. SC25 SC15 vs. SC15N75 SC15 vs. SC25 SC25 vs. SC15N75 19972000 ,0.001 ,0.001 ,0.001 ,0.001 ,0.001 0.436 0.019 0.436 0.147 0.478 1997 0.102 0.693 0.027 0.056 0.056 0.178 0.112 0.178 0.693 0.820 1998 P.F ,0.001 0.001 ,0.001 ,0.001 0.035 0.846 0.411 0.846 0.151 0.445 ,0.001 0.005 ,0.001 ,0.001 0.364 0.175 0.874 0.175 0.29 0.488 ,0.001 ,0.001 ,0.001 ,0.001 ,0.001 0.020 0.001 0.020 0.463 0.509 0.010 0.011 0.001 0.017 0.297 0.188 0.765 0.260 0.835 0.259 1999 2000 2001

Contrast for treatments: N150150 kg ha21 of NH4NO3N; SC1515 Mg ha21 dry matter soil conditioner; SC15N7515 Mg ha21 dry matter soil conditioner and 75 kg ha21 of NH4NO3N; SC2525 Mg ha21 dry matter soil conditioner. No grain, only silage, was harvested in 2001 due to drought.

426

AGRONOMY JOURNAL, VOL. 98, MAYJUNE 2006

Table 4. Grain yield (19972000) and silage yield (2001) as a function of the land-applied soil conditioner N and mineral fertilizer N.
Multiple linear regression equation parameters Years 19972000 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Constant 1903 6 440 to 2288 6 343 797 6 573 2958 6 623 2787 6 578 1535 6 421 669 6 426 SC-TKN or SC-N 7.0 2.8 6.4 6.9 9.4 3.0 6 1.3 or 44.9 6 6.5 6 1.8 or 45.5 6 27.1 6 1.9 or 65.9 6 19.5 6 1.9 or 56.5 6 15.3 6 1.0 or 44.1 6 4.7 6 1.0 or 63.9 6 21.7 NH4NO3N 14.9 6 4.0 2.3 6 5.2 15.4 6 5.6 19.6 6 5.2 20.0 6 3.8 10.9 6 3.8 P.F ,0.001 0.254 0.008 0.002 ,0.001 0.012 R2 % 28.1 4.9 37.0 47.1 82.2 33.4

Reproduced from Agronomy Journal. Published by American Society of Agronomy. All copyrights reserved.

The constant (regression intercept) of each equation represents the regression-fitted yield for the untreated control plots. The SC-TKN (total Kjeldahl N content of the soil conditioner) or SC-N (the sum of NO3N and NH4N content of the soil conditioner) and NH4NO3N regression parameters represent the apparent impact on yield of the N added with the soil conditioner or the mineral fertilizer, e.g., for the period from 1997 to 2000, 1 kg ha21 of SC-TKN was correlated with an average increase in corn yield of 7.0 6 1.3 kg ha21. The regression equation constant and parameters vary as the SC-TKN (left figure) or the SC-N was considered (right figure).

SC but lacked the fertilizer N (Table 3). The N150 treatment resulted in yields that were generally inferior to the ones obtained with any of the treatments that incorporated SC amendments, although not statistically different from the yields obtained with the SC15 treatment. The results suggest an interaction between the nutrients provided by the SC and the mineral fertilizer even if no more than staggered availability of nutrients to the corn crop during the season. Nevertheless, the significance of this interaction is largely dependent on other environmental factors that may regulate the availability of nutrients from the SC and also modify crop requirements during the season. The two SC treatments (SC15 and SC25) produced statistically equivalent yields (Table 3). An attempt to evaluate the significance of the N applied with the soil conditioner was made by fitting to yield a multiple linear regression that incorporated either the total Kjeldahl N or the total available N (NH4N and NO3N) in the SC (SC-TKN or SC-N) and the mineral fertilizer N (Table 4). The SC-N, which is mostly in the form of NO3N (Table 1) is available immediately to the crop. The regression analysis allocated a response of 40 to 60 kg yield for each 1 kg of SC-N;

however, this is probably an overestimate that accounts for the associated slowly mineralized organic N found in the SC. Each 1 kg of the similarly readily available NH4NO3N accounted for only an increase of 10 to 20 kg yield. On the other hand, the regression analysis allocated up to 9 kg yield to each 1 kg of SC-TKN (Table 4). These values are about one-half of the NH4NO3N values and they are probably closer to reality as they account for the easily available Nthe N mineralized during the cropping season and the N that remains in the OM not mineralized during the season. If we assume 40% of the SC-TKN to be mineralized throughout the growing season, then the SC-N use efficiency becomes similar to that of the fertilizer NH4NO3 N. The early summer drought of 1997 limited the impact of the readily available NH4NO3N and thus led to low N use efficiencies (Table 4).

Nitrogen Uptake Patterns

In general, the total N content measured in the plant tissues was greater in the plants from the treated plots than the plants from control plots at both five-leaf and silking stages (Table 5). A direct comparison between

Table 5. Average total Kjeldahl N in plant tissues. Plant tissue measurements were conducted only in 1998, 2000, and 2001.
Treatment Stage Five-leaf Year all years 1998 2000 2001 all years 1998 2000 2001 all years 1998 2000 Control 3.0 2.0 2.8 3.4 1.3 1.5 1.5 1.0 1.3 0.9 1.4 N150 3.4 3.4 3.1 3.7 1.8 2 1.7 1.8 1.2 0.9 1.3 SC15 mg kg 3.5 2.3 3.5 3.8 1.8 2.1 2.0 1.5 1.3 1.1 1.4
21

SC15N75 3.6 3.1 3.7 3.7 2.1 2.0 2.3 2.0 1.3 1.0 1.4

SC25 3.8 2.3 3.6 4.3 2.1 1.9 2.5 1.7 1.3 1.0 1.3

SE 0.18 (40) # 0.14 (15) 0.2 (15) 0.11 (38) # 0.17 (13) 0.06 (15) 0.07 (18) # 0.06(13)

CV % 15.4 8.3 10.5 18.9 16.1 7.3 15.6 8.4

Silking

Grain

At the 5-leaf stage 10 whole plants from each plot were used for the TKN test; at silking the leaf bellow and opposite from the cob leaf in nonharvest rows was taken from 10 plants in each plot. Treatments: N150150 kg ha21 of NH4NO3N; SC1515 Mg ha21 dry matter soil conditioner; SC15N7515 Mg ha21 dry matter soil conditioner and 75 kg ha21 of NH4NO3N; SC2525 Mg ha21 dry matter soil conditioner. Standard error of means with degrees of freedom in parentheses. Coefficient of variation. # Only one composite sample per treatment was tested in 1998; thus no SE value was calculated. No grain, only silage, was harvested in 2001 due to drought.

CURNOE ET AL.: SPRING APPLICATION OF PAPER MILL SOIL CONDITIONER ON CORN

427
Treatments: N150150 kg ha21 of NH4NO3N; SC1515 Mg ha21 dry matter soil conditioner; SC15N7515 Mg ha21 dry matter soil conditioner and 75 kg ha21 of NH4NO3N; SC2525 Mg ha21 dry matter soil conditioner. Standard error of means with degrees of freedom in parentheses. Coefficient of variation.

Five-leaf Contrast N150 vs. control SC15 vs. control SC15N75 vs. control SC25 vs. control N150 vs. SC15N75 N150 vs. SC15 N150 vs. SC25 SC15 vs. SC15N75 SC15 vs. SC25 SC25 vs. SC15N75 2000 0.126 0.002 ,0.001 ,0.001 0.004 0.041 0.018 0.229 0.663 0.427 2001 0.284 0.152 0.277 0.008 0.978 0.692 0.065 0.704 0.130 0.067

Silking 2000 P.F 0.163 0.009 ,0.001 ,0.001 0.011 0.119 0.001 0.189 0.021 0.211 2001 ,0.001 ,0.001 ,0.001 ,0.001 0.163 0.002 0.216 ,0.001 0.019 0.016

Grain pH 2000 0.173 0.975 0.668 0.646 0.333 0.157 0.348 0.645 0.975 0.975

2001 2000 Organic matter 2001 g kg21 mg kg21 Treatment 2000 2001 2000 2001 2000 2001 Olsen-P 2000 Exchangeable Mg

Table 6. Selected contrasts for total Kjeldahl N (TKN) in plant tissues at three stages.

Reproduced from Agronomy Journal. Published by American Society of Agronomy. All copyrights reserved.

Contrast for treatments: N150150 kg ha21 of NH4NO3N; SC1515 Mg ha21 dry matter soil conditioner; SC15N7515 Mg ha21 dry matter soil conditioner and 75 kg ha21 of NH4NO3N; SC2525 Mg ha21 dry matter soil conditioner. At the five-leaf stage, 10 whole plants from each plot were used for the TKN test; at silking, the leaf bellow and opposite from the cob leaf in nonharvest rows was harvested from 10 plants in each plot; grain subsamples were collected from each plot during harvest. No grain, only silage, was harvested in 2001 due to drought.

Table 7. Soil fertility indicators measured after harvest: values after 4 and 5 yr of treatment.

Exchangeable K

the N150 and the SC25 treatments indicated that the SC25 treatment led to a significant increase in the concentration of N in the plant tissues at the two stages in 2000, but during 2001 the differences were not statistically significant (Table 6). No differences in plant N for the five-leaf stage during 2000 and 2001 were observed between the SC15 and SC25 treatments; however, significant differences in plant N for the silking stage occurred between the SC15 and SC25 treatments during 2000 and 2001. The N content in the harvested grain was similar for all treatments including the control (Table 6). This indicates that the supplementary N available on the treated plots led to increased yield but not to higher N concentration in the grain. In general, there is no evidence to suggest that the addition of SC may have resulted in N immobilization (OBrien et al., 2002) or

Fig. 1. Average NO3N measured in soil at harvest. Treatments: N150150 kg ha21 of NH4NO3N; SC1515 Mg ha21 dry matter paper mill soil conditioner; SC15N7515 Mg ha21 dry matter paper mill soil conditioner and 75 kg ha21 of NH4NO3N; SC2525 Mg ha21 dry matter paper mill soil conditioner.

Control N150 SC15 SC15N75 SC25 SE (df) CV, % P.F

46.0 53.5 55.3 57.0 56.8 5.7(15) 18.9 0.568

41.0 48.3 49.8 46.8 54.8 2.0(15) 18.3 0.286

108 108 107 104 96 5.7(15) 24.3 0.968

158 138 165 161 118 8.4(15) 25.5 0.378

49.0 49.5 49.8 52.3 50.8 4.1(15) 36.7 0.99

51.5 40.2 52.2 53.2 44.8 6.9(15) 63.7 0.977

21.5 20.7 23.5 26.7 24.3 1.2(15) 23.8 0.62

21 24 26 25 26 0.9(15) 17.2 0.429

6.95 6.50 6.83 6.73 6.83 0.05(15) 3.3 0.034

6.80 5.93 6.85 6.60 6.73 0.09(15) 6.1 ,0.001

428

AGRONOMY JOURNAL, VOL. 98, MAYJUNE 2006

lack of N availability to corn. On the contrary, both N in plant tissues and yield measurements show that SC addition increased the N availability to corn when compared with the control. This was expected, as the C/N ratio of the SC used was significantly lower than the generally accepted average of 50 or higher for paper mill residuals (Rynk, 1992). Reproduced from Agronomy Journal. Published by American Society of Agronomy. All copyrights reserved.

Residual Nitrate in Soil

The concentration of NO3N in the first 15 cm of the soil profile increased with time for the SC treatments and increased with increased SC application rate (Fig. 1). The increase with time may suggest an effect of the repeated application of SC on the total pool of mineralizable organic material. This increase was not mirrored at the two other depths, up to 45 cm, that were sampled and analyzed. The NO3N concentration was consistently under 10 mg kg21 (Fig. 1). This suggests that little NO3N leaching risk was associated with the addition of the pulp and paper SC to the corn crop on this soil.

Soil Fertility Measurements

The soil had a high Olsen-P level at the start of the trial. Olsen-P is generally associated with its availability for crop uptake in soils with lower available P levels (Hedley et al., 1995). The soil Olsen-P was greater than the control only for the SC25 treatment (Tables 7 and 8) during the 5-yr period. While some of the increase in available P may have been associated with the addition of the SC amendment, it may also have been partially related to the increased mass of crop residues and increased P mobilization through microbial activity after addition of supplementary nutrients (Sharpley, 1985; McLachlan et al., 1988; Lee et al., 1990). While exchangeable K values in the soil increased in 2000 and, most noticeably, in 2001 in all plots as a response to the supplementary fertilizer K added by the farmer (data not shown) no significant impact on the exchangeable K levels could be specifically attributed to any of the treatments (Tables 7 and 8). The only external source for Mg on the trial plots was the SC (Table 1) and possibly atmospheric deposition (Johnson and Todd, 1987). In general, no treatment imTable 8. Selected contrasts for soil fertility indicators.

pact could be noted for the concentrations of exchangeable Mg in any year of the trial (Table 7). In 2000 and 2001, the measured Mg decreased for all treatments including the control. While the decrease can be partially linked to the lower total Mg concentration in the SC (Table 1), the cause for the decrease in the control plots is less obvious. The grain yield reached its maximum in 2000 for the SC treatments and actually decreased in 2000 for the control and N150 treatments (Table 2). These are also the years when supplementary K fertilizer was added by the farmer. As both minerals are part of the cation-exchange complex, it is likely that competitive retention may have caused the lower Mg levels in the soil. While the SC-amended plots received reduced quantities of Mg in 2000 and 2001 (Table 1), the control and the N150 plots received none. It is known that Mg fulfills the role of enzyme activator for enzymes involved in the transfer of phosphates and carboxyl groups (Marschner, 1995, p. 280282) and thus its absence will lower the use efficiency of available P, slowing plant metabolism. In general, a soil with less than ,60 mg kg21 Mg is considered to be deficient and Mg deficiencies have been shown to be accentuated by excess K (Camberato and Pan, 1999). While this may be part of the explanation for the lower yields on the control and the N150 plots, insufficient information was available to thoroughly elucidate this issue. Generally, soil OM tended to be greater in the soils amended with SC (Table 7); however, while this was true for any given year, no statistically significant effect could be associated with the SC treatment during the 5 yr of the trial (Table 7). This was different from results reported by OBrien et al. (2002) from a very short-term laboratory study, but similar to the observations of Beyer et al. (1997), who noted that the increase in the total OM content following land application of paper mill residues to a sandy soil disappeared within 1 yr. Nevertheless, N mineralization depends on the initial chemistry of the organic material (Rowell et al., 2001). The SC used in our experiment had a relatively low C/N ratio (Table 1). Hence, our results suggest that SC organic material mineralizes from year to year. The pH of the SC was slightly more alkaline than the soil pH; at the end of the growing season, however, there was no measurable impact on the pH of the soil that received SC amendments (Table 7). In contrast, the

Contrast for treatments Soil fertility indicator P, mg kg21 K, mg kg21 Mg, mg kg21 OM, g kg21 Soil pH N150 vs. control 0.224 0.355 0.808 0.764 ,0.001 SC15 vs. control 0.136 0.804 0.897 0.029 0.387 SC15N75 vs. control 0.196 0.722 0.833 0.010 0.052 SC25 vs. control 0.026 0.144 0.948 0.016 0.159 N150 vs. SC15N75 N150 vs. SC15 N150 vs. SC25 0.299 0.585 0.758 0.007 ,0.001 SC15 vs. SC15N75 0.841 0.914 0.935 0.682 0.272 SC15 vs. SC25 0.447 0.222 0.948 0.800 0.582 SC25 vs. SC15N75 0.338 0.265 0.884 0.888 0.582

P.F 0.936 0.779 0.567 0.497 0.650 0.709 0.005 0.026 ,0.001 ,0.001

The contrasts were evaluated for the measurements of soil organic matter values at harvest time. The intensity of analysis varied from year to year as follows: 1997 one composite sample per treatment; 1998 and 1999, two composite samples per treatment; 2000 and 2001, one sample from each block per treatment for a total of four samples per treatment. Treatments: N150150 kg ha21 of NH4NO3N; SC1515 Mg ha21 dry matter soil conditioner; SC15N7515 Mg ha21 dry matter soil conditioner and 75 kg ha21 of NH4NO3N; SC2525 Mg ha21 dry matter soil conditioner.

CURNOE ET AL.: SPRING APPLICATION OF PAPER MILL SOIL CONDITIONER ON CORN

429

NH4NO3N treatments significantly decreased soil pH (Tables 7 and 8).

SUMMARY
Land application of paper mill SC significantly increased corn yields even in the absence of mineral fertilizer. Leaf total N measurements indicated that more N was available for uptake by the corn plants during the growing season where SC or NH4NO3N was added compared with the control. The soil OM content increased each year during the application of SC; however, little evidence for long-term accumulation of OM was noted. Low NO3N concentrations in the deeper soil layers posed no risk to water resources and no SCrelated changes were noted in the concentrations of P, K, Mg, or soil pH.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors would like to thank Brent Winters, Greenfield Environmental Services, for his technical assistance. Partial funding for this research was provided by Domtar Inc. and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

REFERENCES
Bellaloui, A., A. Chtaini, G. Ballivy, and S. Narasiah. 1999. Laboratory investigation of the control of acid mine drainage using alkaline paper mill waste. Water Air Soil Pollut. 111:5773. Bellamy, K.L., C. Chong, and R.A. Cline. 1995. Paper sludge utilization in agriculture and container nursery culture. J. Environ. Qual. 24:10741082. Beyer, L., R. Fru nd, and K. Mueller. 1997. Short-term effects of a secondary paper mill sludge application on soil properties in a Psammentic Haplumbrept under cultivation. Sci. Total Environ. 197:127137. Bremner, J.M., and C.S. Mulvaney. 1982. Nitrogentotal. p. 595624. In A.L. Page et al. (ed.) Methods of soil analysis. Part 2. Agron. Monogr. 9. ASA and SSSA, Madison, WI. Camberato, J.J., and W.L. Pan. 1999. Bioavailability of calcium, magnesium, and sulfur. p. D50D69. In M.E. Sumner (ed.) Handbook of soil science. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL. Chantigny, M.H., D.A. Angers, and C.J. Beauchamp. 1999. Aggregation and organic matter decomposition in soils amended with deinking paper sludge. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 63:12141221. Chtaini, A., A. Bellaloui, G. Ballivy, and S. Narasiah. 2001. Field investigation of controlling acid mine drainage using alkaline paper mill waste. Water Air Soil Pollut. 125:357374. Feldkirchner, D.C., C. Wang, S.T. Gower, E.L. Kruger, and J. Ferris. 2003. Effects of nutrient and paper mill biosolids amendments on the growth and nutrient status of hardwood forests. For. Ecol. Manage. 177:95116. Fierro, A., D.A. Angers, and C.J. Beauchamp. 2000. Decomposition of paper de-inking sludge in a sandpit minesoil during its revegetation. Soil Biol. Biochem. 32:143150. Foley, B.J., and L.R. Cooperband. 2002. Paper mill residuals and compost effects on soil carbon and physical properties. J. Environ. Qual. 31:20862095. Hedley, M.J., J.J. Mortvedt, N.S. Bolan, and J.K. Syers. 1995. Phosphorus fertility management in agroecosystems. p. 5993. In H. Tiessen (ed.) Phosphorus in the global environment. John Wiley & Sons, Toronto, ON. Johnson, D.W., and D.E. Todd. 1987. Nutrient export by leaching and whole-tree harvesting in a loblolly pine and mixed oak forest. Plant Soil 102:99109.

Keeney, D.R., and D.W. Nelson. 1982. Extraction of exchangeable ammonium, nitrate, and nitrite. p. 648649. In A.L. Page et al. (ed.) Methods of soil analysis. Part 2. Agron. Monogr. 9. ASA and SSSA, Madison, WI. Koshikawa, M., and A. Isogai. 2004. Analyses of incinerated ash of paper sludge: Comparison with incinerated ash of municipal solid waste. J. Mater. Cycles Waste Manage. 6:6472. Lee, D., X.G. Han, and C.F. Jordan. 1990. Soil phosphorus fractions, aluminum, and water retention as affected by microbial activity in an Ultisol. Plant Soil 121:12151236. Linden, D.R., W.E. Larson, R.H. Dowdy, and C.E. Clapp. 1995. Agricultural utilization of sewage sludge. A twenty year study at the Rosemount Agricultural Experiment Station. Bull. 605-1995. Minnesota Agric. Exp. Stn., Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul. Marschner, H. 1995. Mineral nutrition of higher plants. 2nd ed. Academic Press, San Diego, CA. McLachlan, M.J., A.M. Alston, and J.K. Martin. 1988. Phosphorus cycling in wheat pasture rotations: III. Organic phosphorus turnover and phosphorus cycling. Aust. J. Soil Res. 26:343353. Minitab. 2004. Minitab statistical software. Release 14. Minitab, State College, PA. Moo-Young, H.K., Jr., and T.F. Zimmie. 1997. Waste minimization and re-use of paper sludges in landfill covers: A case study. Waste Manage. Res. 15:593605. Nemati, R., J. Caron, and J. Gallichand. 2000. Using paper de-inking sludge to maintain soil structural form: Field measurements. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 64:275285. OBrien, T.A., S.J. Herbert, and A.V. Barker. 2002. Growth of corn in varying mixtures of paper mill sludge and soil. Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal. 33:635646. Olsen, S.R., and L.E. Sommers. 1982. Phosphorus. p. 403430. In A.L. Page et al. (ed.) Methods of soil analysis. Part 2. Agron. Monogr. 9. ASA and SSSA, Madison, WI. Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs. 1995. Field crop recommendations, 199596. Publ. 296. OMAFRA, Toronto, ON. Phillips, V.R., N. Kirkpatrick, I.M. Scotford, R.P. White, and R.G.O. Burton. 1998. The use of paper mill sludges on agricultural land. Bioresour. Technol. 60:7380. Piearce, T.G., T. Budd, J.M. Hayhoe, D. Sleep, and P.J. Clasper. 2003. Earthworms of a land restoration site treated with paper mill sludge. Pedobiologia 47:792795. Rantala, P.-R., K. Vaajasaari, R. Juvonen, E. Schultz, A. Joutti, and R. Ma kela -Kurtto. 1999. Composting of forest industry wastewater sludges for agricultural use. Water Sci. Technol. 40:187194. Rowell, D.M., C.E. Prescott, and C.M. Preston. 2001. Decomposition and nitrogen mineralization from biosolids and other organic materials: Relationship with initial chemistry. J. Environ. Qual. 30:14011410. Rynk, R. (ed.). 1992. On-farm composting handbookNRAES 54. Natural Resource, Agriculture, and Engineering Serv., Ithaca, NY. Sharpley, A.N. 1985. Phosphorus cycling in unfertilized and fertilized agricultural soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 49:905911. Sheldrick, B.H. 1984. Analytical methods manual. Contrib. 84-30. Land Resource Research Inst., Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, ON. Tenuta, M., and G. Lazarovits. 2004. Soil properties associated with the variable effectiveness of meat and bone meal to kill microsclerotia of Verticillium dahlia. Appl. Soil Ecol. 25:219236. Vallad, G.E., L. Cooperband, and R.M. Goodman. 2003. Plant foliar disease suppression mediated by composted forms of paper mill residuals exhibits molecular features of induced resistance. Physiol. Mol. Plant Pathol. 63:6577. VSN International, Ltd. 2004. GenStat for Windows. 7th ed. VSN International, Ltd., Hemel Hempstead, Herts, UK. Zhang, S., S. Wang, X. Shan, and H. Mu. 2004. Influences of lignin from paper mill sludge on soil properties and metal accumulation in wheat. Biol. Fertil. Soils 40:237242. Zibilske, L.M., W.M. Clapham, and R.V. Rourke. 2000. Multiple applications of paper mill sludge in an agricultural system: Soil effects. J. Environ. Qual. 29:19751981.

Reproduced from Agronomy Journal. Published by American Society of Agronomy. All copyrights reserved.