Organic carbonstockand quantification of humic substances of an oxisol under continuous sewage sludge application

Abstract

This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of continuous sewage sludge applications (Sewage Treatment Station of Barueri, São Paulo State, Brazil) on the C content and stock and on the distribution of C-humic fractions of a Red Latosol (Oxisol). The experiment was installed in 1999 on an experimental field of Embrapa Environment, in Juaguariúna (SP). The data were collected after the sixth sludge application (SS) with corn cultivation. The following accumulated SS doses (dry base) were tested: 0, 30, 60,120, and 240 Mg ha-1 and the treatments were: control without SS addition(LO); SS application to supply one (L1), two (L2), four (L4) and eight (L8) times the Ncorn requirement. Carbon contents and stocks were evaluated in the soil layers 0-10, 10-20, 20-40 and 40-60 cm, and the C associated to humic substances 0-10 cm deep. As the SS applications increased, the C content and stock rose in the 0-20 cm soil layer. Most soil C (50-66 %) is associated to the humin pool, followed by fulvic acid fraction-C and then humic acid fraction-C. Sewage sludge applications result in higher contents of C-humic substances in soil, though the proportion of mineralized C in soil humus remained unchanged.