Biosolids conditioning and the availability of Cu and Zn for rice

Abstract

Sewage treatment process is a factor to be considered for biosolid use in agriculture. The greatest sewage treatment facility of São Paulo State (Barueri/SP) altered in the year 2000 of its sludge treatment. The addition of ferric chloride and calcium oxide was substituted by the addition of polymers. This change can modify heavy metal phytoavailability. A green house experiment, using 2 soils treated with biosolids (three with and one without polymers with and without polymers) was performed to evaluate Cu and Zn phytoavailability using rice (Oryza sativa L.) as test plant. Three kilograms of two soils (Haphorthox abd Hapludox) were placed in pots and the equivalent to 50 Mg ha-1 (dry basis) of biosolid was added and incorporated. The statistical design adopted was completely randomized experiment, with five treatments (control plus four different biossolids) each soil and four replications. Soil pH before and after harvesting, Cu and Zn concentrations in shoot were evaluated. Tukey (5%) was used to compare the results. DTPA, HCl 0.1 mol L-1 and Mehlich 3 were used to estimate soil available Cu and Zn. Amounts extracted were correlated to those presented in rice shoot, to evaluate the efficiency of predicting Cu and Zn phytoavailabilities. Biosolids with polymers presented higher Cu and Zn phytoavailabilities, possibly due to the lower pH of these residues. In this case soil presented lowest values of pH and plant shoot had highest. All extractants were representative of Cu and Zn availability to rice plants.