seasonal influence of olive mill wastewater applications on an orchard soil under semi‐arid conditions
Olive oil production generates large amounts of olive mill wastewater (OMW). OMW has a high nutrient content and could serve as fertilizer, but its fatty and phenolic constituents induce soil water repellency, phytotoxicity, and acidification. An appropriate season of OMW application may mitigate ne...
Saved in:
Published in | Journal of plant nutrition and soil science Vol. 178; no. 4; pp. 641 - 648 |
---|---|
Main Authors | , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Weinheim
WILEY‐VCH Verlag
01.08.2015
WILEY-VCH Verlag Wiley Subscription Services, Inc |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
Cover
Loading…
Summary: | Olive oil production generates large amounts of olive mill wastewater (OMW). OMW has a high nutrient content and could serve as fertilizer, but its fatty and phenolic constituents induce soil water repellency, phytotoxicity, and acidification. An appropriate season of OMW application may mitigate negative consequences while preserving beneficial effects. In order to investigate this, a field study was conducted, in which OMW was applied to an olive orchard in Israel either in winter or summer. Soil–water interactions (water drop penetration time, hydraulic conductivity), soil physicochemical parameters, phenolic compounds, and soil biological activity (bait‐lamina test) were determined 12 to 18 months after OMW application. The results showed elevated K⁺ contents in all treatments, but all other soil properties of winter treatments were comparable to the control, which suggested a certain recovery potential of the soil when OMW is applied in winter. By contrast, summer treatments revealed a ten‐fold higher soil water repellency, a three‐times lower biological activity, and a four‐fold higher content of phenolic compounds, independently of whether the soil was kept moist by irrigation or not. Thus, the OMW constituents were neither degraded nor leached by winter rain when applied during the hot season. Further research is needed to distinguish leaching and biodegradation effects, and to understand the development of the composition and degradation kinetics of organic OMW constituents. |
---|---|
Bibliography: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jpln.201400658 German Research Foundation (DFG) - No. SCHA 849/13 istex:2559F8BE9D79B450AB08E86ECE09D2A21AC4CBB9 ArticleID:JPLN201400658 ark:/67375/WNG-9P348WKZ-Z ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 1436-8730 1522-2624 |
DOI: | 10.1002/jpln.201400658 |