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Soil fertility, growth and mineral nutrition in Eucalyptus grandis plantation fertilized with different kinds of sewage sludge

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Abstract

The agricultural use of sewage sludge has increased worldwide, especially in crops and in countries with temperate or subtropical climate. Nevertheless, few studies have been conducted with forest plantations in tropical conditions. This study aimed to evaluate the soil fertility, mineral nutrition and tree growth in Eucalyptus grandis plantations fertilized with three types of sewage sludge. The design used was of blocks with randomized plots, four replications and five treatments: control without fertilization (C), conventional mineral fertilizer (MF), fertilization with 15 t ha−1 (dry basis) of sewage sludge produced in wastewater treatment plants of Barueri (BS), São Miguel (SS) and Parque Novo Mundo (PS) cities, all located in the metropolitan region of São Paulo, Brazil. It was observed that the application of sewage sludge increased the content of organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus in the layer of 0–5 cm soil depth, as well as the nitrogen, phosphorus, copper and zinc concentrations in the Eucalyptus leaves. In the PS treatment, the sludge (conditioned with quicklime) application also increased the pH and the concentration of calcium in the soil compared to other kinds of sludge (conditioned with polyelectrolyte), resulting in higher Ca:Mg and Ca:K ratios in the leaves. Probably for this reason, wood production in PS was 20 % lower than in the MF treatment at 60 months of age of the trees. Even so, the fertilization with sewage sludge provided a rise of 50–90 % in timber volume compared to C treatment.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico) for the scholarship granted to the first author (project 130152/2009-9), to IPEF (Forestry Science and Research Institute) for collaboration and to SABESP (Basic Sanitation Company of São Paulo State) for the financial support in the conduction of this work.

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  1. Department of Forest Science, Luiz de Queiroz’s College of Agriculture (ESALQ), University of São Paulo (USP), Avenue Padua Dias, n.11, Piracicaba, SP, 13418-900, Brazil

    Alexandre de Vicente Ferraz, Luana Trevine Momentel & Fábio Poggiani

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  1. Alexandre de Vicente Ferraz
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  2. Luana Trevine Momentel
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  3. Fábio Poggiani
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Correspondence to Alexandre de Vicente Ferraz.

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Ferraz, A.d., Momentel, L.T. & Poggiani, F. Soil fertility, growth and mineral nutrition in Eucalyptus grandis plantation fertilized with different kinds of sewage sludge. New Forests 47, 861–876 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-016-9549-1

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