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Leaching techniques for saline wastes composts used as growing media in organic agriculture: assessment and modelling

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Abstract

The purpose of this work was to examine solute release by the effect of leaching of a saline compost with two main objectives: (1) to identify the most efficient method for this purpose, in order to minimize the environmental impact of this process in terms of water consumption and (2) to study the composition of the leachates to manage them properly and avoid possible contamination. A laboratory method involving column leaching with distilled water (CL) and two field methods involving saturation leaching (SL) and drip leaching (DL) were compared to this end. In order to more accurately assess nutrient release and compare the three leaching techniques, the cumulative amounts of ions leached were processed by using an exponential growth model. All target ions fitted properly, and so did the curve for the ions as a whole. Salts were removed mainly by effect of the leaching of major ions in the substrate (Na+, Cl–, inorganic N, SO4 2– and K+). SL and CL proved similarly efficient and reduced the salt content of the substrate to an electrical conductivity below 2 dS m–1 in the saturation extract, which is the optimum level for nursery crops. By contrast, the DL method provided poor results: salt contents were reduced to an electrical conductivity of only 8 dS m–1 in the saturation extract, so the resulting substrate can only be useful to grow highly salt-tolerant crops.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Xunta de Galicia for funding this study (Projects PGIDT05TAM097E and 09MRU016291PR) and for the postgraduate grant awarded to Marta Illera-Vives. They also thank Pescados Rubén S.L. for supplying some of the materials used to produce the composts and for their helpful collaboration throughout the project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IBADER, University of Santiago de Compostela, Campus Universitario, 27002, Lugo, Spain

    Marta Illera-Vives & María Elvira López-Mosquera

  2. University of Almería, Producción Vegetal, Ctra. Sacramento s/n, 04120, Almería, Spain

    María del Carmen Salas-Sanjuan

  3. Escuela Politécnica Superior, University of Santiago de Compostela, Campus Universitario, 27002, Lugo, Spain

    Adolfo López-Fabal

Authors
  1. Marta Illera-Vives
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  2. María Elvira López-Mosquera
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  3. María del Carmen Salas-Sanjuan
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  4. Adolfo López-Fabal
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Correspondence to Marta Illera-Vives.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Illera-Vives, M., López-Mosquera, M.E., Salas-Sanjuan, M.d.C. et al. Leaching techniques for saline wastes composts used as growing media in organic agriculture: assessment and modelling. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 6854–6863 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3897-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3897-1

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