Impacts of urban waste use on soil microbial activities in urban agriculture

Abstract

Urban waste use in agriculture is a common practice in West Africa, especially in Burkina Faso. The contribution of urban waste to improve soil fertility in well know. However few studies have been done on the impact of urban waste use on soil microorganism. The objective of this work was to assess the potential impact of urban waste application on soil microbial activities. The Soil Induced Respiration (SIR) of soil amended with urban wastes was 0.049 mg C g−1 soil h−1 and significantly higher (p = 0.00586) than the values in soils amended by manure and control soil that was respectively 0.0212 (0.0087) mg C g−1 soil h−1 and 0.0114 (0.0050) mg C g−1 soil h−1 . The urban waste amendment used has significant effects on lag time (Tlat) (p = 0.0203) and maximal response (Tmax) (p = 0.00787). Anabolic variables (lag time and Tmax) have been perturbed also by urban waste. In the soil amended by urban waste, the lag time has been decreased by 50%. Soil amended with urban waste has the lowest lag time (25.7778 (2.75) h) compare to soil amended with manure (47.9444 (4.61) h) and uncultivated soils (53.50 (10.50) h). The same trend was observed with time for maximal response (Tmax) with value of 56.3333 (12.4929) h in soil amended with urban waste, 95.8888 (3.4247) h in soil amended with organic manure and 93.1111 (11.3442) h in control soils. The Tmax has been reduced by 53% in soil amended by urban waste. The urban waste use lead to microbial biomass increase and rapid grow of soil microorganism. The results suggest that adding urban waste to soils is likely to result in carbon sequestration in the soil.

Description

Journal Article

Keywords

Soil, Urban Waste, Microbial Activities

Citation