Carbon mineralization in acidic soils amended with an organo-mineral bentonite waste

Abstract

Bentonite based organic-mineral wastes contains high concentrations of organic matter and plant nutrients and hence presents a high potential as a soil amendment. However, it also can have high salinity and high copper concentrations that may cause negative effects on microorganisms when the soil is amended with this type of wastes. In this work, the effect of soil amendment with a bentonite based winery waste on soil carbon mineralization was studied in acidic vineyard soils as an indicator of soil quality. The carbon mineralization in the waste is significantly lower and slower than that in the studied vineyard soils despite its significantly higher amount of organic carbon. However, when the bentonite winery waste was added to the soils, the carbon mineralization showed positive priming effects (increased between 78 and 337%). Therefore, reductions in the carbon mineralization, and hence changes on short-term organic matter turnover are not expected after bentonite waste amendment in acid soils.