European Commission APPLYING COMPOST BENEFITS AND NEEDS Seminar Proceedings Brussels, 22 – 23 November 2001 Scientific and organising committee: Dipl.Ing. Florian Amlinger (Chairperson), Compost – Consulting & Development, Austria Dr. Peter Dreher, State Institute for Environmental Protection of Baden-Württemberg Dr. Stephen Nortcliff, Department of Soil Science, University of Reading, UK Dipl.Ing. Karlheinz Weinfurtner, Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME), Germany Rapporteurs of the panel forum and open floor: Dr. Robin Szmidt, The Scottish Agricultural College, Auchincruive, UK Laure Metzger, Societé Alsacienne pour le Dévelopment et l’Étude de la Fertilité, Aspach, France Acknowledgements: We thank Stefan Peyr for implementing the contributions and editorial revision. Copyright: Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, Austria, and European Communities, 2003 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. The views expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission. ISBN 3-902 338-26-1 Cover photos: Florian Amlinger Printed by: Printed on recycled paper A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu.int). Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union New freephone number: 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 PREFACE During the first decade of source separation and biowaste composting predominantly the discussion on compost use focussed on potential pollution issues. Questions of ecologically beneficial effects of compost where somehow disregarded. In view of the future adoption of a Biowaste Directive and continuously increasing figures for biowaste and green waste compost generation, the Austrian Ministry for Agriculture & Forestry, Environment & Water Management initiated a literature research on the “Evaluation of Sustainable Beneficial Effects of Compost on Soil Fertility and Soil Productivity”. In order to discuss the results of this research with experts at the European level, the Environment Directorate-General of the European Commission and the Ministry for Agriculture & Forestry, Environment & Water Management of the Republic of Austria organised a scientific seminar on “Applying Compost – Benefits and Needs” in Brussels on 22 and 23 November 2001. The seminar, with invited international experts, intended to share the outcome of the literature research with the results of the latest findings by scientific research work. Furthermore, the hypothesis was to discuss with colleagues not only from the scientific world (plant production, soil science etc) but also with experts from agricultural organisations and official bodies and authorities on national and EU level of the concerned areas (soil protection, water conservation, agriculture). Compost additions to soil have the potential to contribute in the following areas: • Improve soil physical conditions increasing resistance to erosion, improving soil workability and water infiltration and water holding properties. • Improve soil fertility • Increase soil biodiversity • Sequester carbon in the soil. The need to maintain and improve these properties have been recently highlighted by the Commission itself in its Communication “Towards a Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection” (COM (2002) 179 final). More than 100 representatives from academia, regulators, agricultural organisations and compost management attended the seminar to discuss the experience of beneficial effects of compost to the soil-plant-system. The presentations as well as the plenary contributions supported the outcome of the literature review – that is compost induces positive effects by offsetting organic carbon losses and improving key soil fertility parameters. We hope that these proceedings may serve as a further contribution to best practice when compost is used in agriculture to the benefit of a sustainable organic matter management of European soils. Leopold Zahrer David Grant Lawrence Director General Director Department for Environmental Technology DG Environment and Waste Management European Commission Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Brussels Environment & Water Management Austria - i - - ii - CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY HIGHLIGHTING KEY OUTCOMES FROM PRESENTED PAPERS AND THE DISCUSSION.......................................................................................................................... 1 ORGANIC MATTER MANAGEMENT – A CONTRIBUTION TO SUSTAINABILITY , REINHARD F. HÜTTL AND MARIO FUSSY ...................................................................................................................... 9 N AND C POOLS – WHAT IS THEIR FATE IN COMPOST AMENDED SYSTEMS? 19 INTRODUCTION , STEPHEN NORTCLIFF AND FLORIAN AMLINGER ................................................................. 19 HOW DO ORGANIC FERTILISER SYSTEMS INFLUENCE THE C POOL IN LONG-TERM EXPERIMENTS? MARTIN KÖRSCHENS ............................................................................................... 37 NITROGEN DYNAMICS IN COMPOST-AMENDED SYSTEMS , WILFRIED HARTL, EVA ERHART, WOLFGANG SCHOTT......................................................................................................................................... 49 COMBINING COMPOST AND SLURRY IN INTENSIVE FLEMISH SILAGE MAIZE PRODUCTION: FATE OF NITROGEN , FRANK NEVENS............................................................................................... 59 FATE OF C AND N POOLS – EXPERIENCE FROM SHORT AND LONG TERM COMPOST EXPERIMENTS , KOR ZWART........................................................................................................... 77 N2O LOSSES FROM A LONG-TERM COMPOST AMENDED SOIL , THOMAS EBERTSEDER, REINHOLD GUTSER, ARMIN KILIAN....................................................................................................................... 87 CO2 EVOLUTION IN SOIL AMENDED WITH COMPOST , FABRIZIO ADANI AND MASSIMO CENTEMERO ........... 91 FEASIBILITY AND NECESSITY OF PREDICTING COMPOST IMPACT ON SOIL ORGANIC MATER EVOLUTION ONCE IT HAS BEEN APPLIED , LAURE METZGER ............................................................ 97 ESTIMATING THE AMOUNT OF EXOGENOUS ORGANIC MATTER NEEDED TO RESTORE AND MAINTAIN FRENCH LOAMY SOILS AT A GIVEN ORGANIC LEVEL , MAELENN LE VILLIO, DOMINIQUE ARROUAYS, WILLIAM DESLAIS, JOEL DAROUSSIN, YVES LE BISSONNAIS, DOMINIQUE CLERGEOT ...................................103 PLANT NUTRITION AND PRODUCTIVITY – IS COMPOST A COMPETITIVE FERTILISER? 111 INTRODUCTION , KARLHEINZ WEINFURTNER .....................................................................................111 NUTRITION POTENTIAL OF BIOWASTE COMPOSTS , THOMAS EBERTSEDER AND REINHOLD GUTSER ..........117 THE LONG-TERM VEGETABELE PRODUCTION EXPERIMENT: PLANT GROWTH AND SOIL FERTILITY COMPARISON BETWEEN FERTILIZER AND COMPOST-AMENDED SOILS , P.R. WARMAN .....................................................................................................................................129 FERTILISATION EFFECT OF THE P AND K SUPPLY WITH COMPOSTS , RAINER KLUGE ..................139 COMPOST APPLICATION TO ARABLE CROPS; EVIDENCE OF PLANT - NITROGEN DEPLETION? , PAUL WHYATT AND PHILIP PUTWAIN...............................................................................141 POTENTIAL USE AS FERTILISER OF A COMPOST FROM A MIXTURE OF RICE STRAW , F. POMARES, E. FERRER, R. CANET ..........................................................................................................145 iii COMPOST IMPACTS ON SOIL BIOLOGY AND ANTI- PHYTOPATHOGENIC POTENTIAL 147 INTRODUCTION , STEPHEN NORTCLIFF AND FLORIAN AMLINGER ............................................................... 147 LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF MANURE COMPOST AND MINERAL FERTILISERS ON SOIL BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY AS RELATED TO SOIL STRUCTURE AND CROP YIELD , PAUL MÄDER ........ 153 EFFECT OF COMPOST APPLICATION ON THE SOIL MICROFLORA , JOEKE POSTMA AND HANS KOK ....... 157 SUPPRESSIVE EFFECTS OF COMPOST ON SOIL BORNE PLANT DISEASES , CHRISTIAN BRUNS ........... 163 THE EFFECT OF VEGETABLE, FRUIT AND GARDEN WASTE (VFG) COMPOST ON THE BIOMASS PRODUCTION AND NUMBER OF EARTHWORMS IN A SILAGE MAIZE MONOCULTURE , VEERLE CHRISTIAENS, FRANK NEVENS, DIRK REHEUL....................................................... 167 FIRST RESULTS OF “MICROFARMING” IN LYSIANTHUS-TILLAGE ARE POSITIVE , MARK VAN IERSEL ........................................................................................................................................ 169 ASPECTS OF SOIL PROTECTION …. AGAINST POTENTIAL POLLUTANTS 171 INTRODUCTION , FLORIAN AMLINGER ............................................................................................. 171 SORPTION AND AVAILABILITY DYNAMICS OF HEAVY METALS IN COMPOST AMENDED SYSTEMS , GIANNIANTONIO PETRUZZELLI AND BEATRICE PEZZAROSSA ................................................................. 179 INFLUENCE OF THE STABILITY OF THE COMPOST ORGANIC MATTER ON THE DECAY OF ORGANIC POLLUTANTS DURING COMPOSTING AND IN SOIL AFTER COMPOST APPLICATION , SABINE HOUOT, CHRISTINE VERGE-LEVIEL, MAELENN LE VILLIO, DOMINIQUE CLERGEOT ......................................... 191 ORGANIC MATTER EVOLUTION AND AVAILABILITY OF METALS DURING COMPOSTING OF MSW , LIVIANA LEITA, FLAVIO FORNASIER, CLAUDIO MONDINI, PAOLO CANTONE.............................................. 201 RISK OF HEAVY METAL POLLUTION