Retention characteristics and convective transport of phosphorus in soils amended with biosolids, manures and fertilizer

Three related studies were carried out in the laboratory to investigate the fate of phosphorus (P) from organic amendments when applied to the soil. The first study characterized forms of P in fresh and pre-treated (oven-dried) organic amendments to evaluate their potential environmental impact by comparing the magnitude of their labile P. The organic amendments were biosolids (BIO), dairy cattle (DAIRY) and hog (HOG) manures. The second study examined the impact of these organic amendments and monoammonium phosphate (MAP) fertilizer, on P sorption characteristics of two Manitoba soils, namely; Osborne clay (Gleysolic Humic Vertisol) and Lakeland silty clay loam (Rego Black Chernozerm) soils. Finally, the convective transport of P in soil amended with organic amendments and MAP was investigated to see if these amendments predispose the soil to rapid P movement. The labile P (sum of P extracted by H2 O and NaHCO3) fraction ranged from 24% of biosolids P to 70% of cattle manure P. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...