UNDERSTANDING COMPOST SALTS

David Crohn
University of California, Riverside
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
SALTS
Salts are a huge concern in semi-arid and arid soils
Salts accumulate from irrigation water
Salts concentrate due to evapotranspiration (ET)
Not a concern where
precipitation significantly
exceeds evapotranspiration
SALTS
Mostly Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+ and Cl-
Decrease yields by upsetting osmotic balance in the roots zone
If sodium dominates, soil structure is lost so that water and air cannot penetrate
Not a concern where
precipitation significantly
exceeds evapotranspiration
SALT MEASUREMENT
Salts in water improve it ability to transmit electricity
Salinity is measured indirectly
Water is added and extracted from soils
Its electrical conductivity is then measured
< 4 dS/m is desirable, but it depends on the plant
How much water is added affects results

EC2
EC5
ECe
SALTS AND COMPOST
Growers in California and similar environments worry about salts in compost.
Compost numbers are often high
 4 – 6 dS/m for greenwaste compost
 Manure, biosolids composts MUCH higher (10, 15, higher)
BUT nutrients are salts!!!
 And much of the salinity measured is
due to these nutrients
Also some compost salts are
organic and will decompose
Compost salts are diluted in soils
THE QUESTION

Do compost salts act like

other salts, depressing growth?
fertilizers, stimulating growth?
THRESHOLD SOIL SALINITY VALUES FOR
CROPS
(HANSON ET AL., 1993; SOLTANPOUR AND FOLLETT, 1995)

Threshold ECe (dS/m)

Crop 10% Yield Reduction 25%Yield Reduction

Lettuce 2.1 3.2

Tomato 3.5 5

Blueberry 3 5
 3 SOILS

Organic
Soil ECe Matter
Textures Sand (%) Clay (%) (dS/m) pH (%)
Sandy
Loam 60 12 1.0 7.9 0.75
Silt Loam 26 17 2.2 7.1 0.69
Clay
Loam 21 38 4.1 8.2 0.92
 9 COMMERCIAL COMPOST BLENDS

Treatment Constituents
T1 steer manure and wood fines
T2 steer manure and wood fines
T3 wood fines, biosolids, and digested steer
manure.
T4 chicken manure and wood fines.
T5 steer manure and wood fines
T6 wood fines, biosolids, and digested steer
manure.
T7 wood fines and digested steer manure.
T8 rice hulls, biosolids, wood fines, chicken manure.
T9 ground wood fines, peat moss, worm castings, fir
bark
 COMPOST PROPERTIES

Compost Organic Moisture EC5:1

Treatment Matter (%) (%) (dS/m) pH 5:1
T1 45 28 12.1 8.3
T2 43 46 10.7 8.3
T3 33 37 5.8 7.3
T4 46 45 5.7 8.4
T5 42 29 5.5 8.5
T6 48 23 4.8 7.6
T7 44 38 4.3 6.8
T8 44 28 4.2 7.2
T9 48 37 3.0 7.5
 EXPERIMENT

3 soils × 9 composts × 3 crops × replicates

(324 all together) were grown in 1 gal pots
within a greenhouse
Control soils were fertilized
Plants were collected 45 days after emergence
Dry masses were measured
 EFFECT OF DIFFERENT COMPOSTS ON DRY
MATTER YIELD OF LETTUCE AT TWO
SALINITY LEVELS
6
ECe = 2.1 dS/m
ECe =3.2 dS/m
5
Shoot Dry Weight (g)

0
Control T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9
Treatments
 EFFECT OF DIFFERENT COMPOSTS ON DRY
MATTER YIELD OF TOMATO AT TWO
SALINITY LEVELS
12
ECe = 3.5 dS/m
ECe = 5.0 dS/m
10
Shoot Dry Weight (g)

0
Control T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9
Treatments
 EFFECT OF DIFFERENT COMPOSTS ON DRY
MATTER YIELD OF BLUEBERRY AT TWO
SALINITY LEVELS
10
ECe = 3.0 dS/m
ECe = 5.0 dS/m
8
Shoot Dry Weight (g)

0
Control T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9
Treatments
 COMPOST NUTRIENTS, SALTS, AND
AGINDEX

Treatment NH4-N NO3--N P K Ca Mg S Na Cl AgIndex

T1 124.4 17.6 31.7 803.9 13.1 12.3 136.8 216.5 525.8 1.6
T2 76.3 30.9 6.8 650.4 11.5 8.5 134.5 172.6 141.9 2.9
T3 459.2 7.7 3.4 283.1 86.7 34.5 725.0 124.6 208.5 2.4
T4 166.2 20.2 35.6 533.7 17.6 5.8 146.7 120.2 105.5 4.0
T5 137.7 2.7 2.8 668.4 34.5 25.9 213.5 186.9 84.8 3.6
T6 355.6 2.8 2.5 95.3 39.2 17.1 189.5 42.8 133.4 2.7
T7 247.1 7.7 1.9 131.7 49.4 20.1 199.4 48.5 281.6 1.3
T8 183.2 3.4 0.4 97.7 163.5 28.8 248.7 29.6 116.9 2.1
T9 61.7 11.3 1.5 303.9 44.1 11.4 133.2 111.8 82.7 2.3
Soil 6.0 15.4 65.3 40.3 107.9 71.2 106.3 16.4 67.8 -
OBSERVATIONS:
In all cases we saw reduced growth as soil-compost mix ECe values increased from 10
to 25% salt damage levels (p<0.0001)
In all cases compost use improved growth above the fertilized controls (p<0.0001)
Could not predict growth 10 to 25% damage level differences from measured
compost nutrients or salts using regression
AgIndex was significant (p<0.05) suggesting that this ratio is meaningful

𝑁 + 𝑃2 𝑂5 + 𝐾2 𝑂
𝐴𝑔𝐼𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑥 =
𝑁𝑎+ + 𝐶𝑙 −
PREDICTING THE ECE OF COMPOST AMENDED
SOILS
Soil salinity is measured using ECe
Compost salinity is measured using EC5
These are NOT comparable because the amount of water in saturated paste varies
from soil to soil
 EC5 > Ece
Also adding compost changes the amount of water in the saturated paste of the soil
compost mix
Have developed a method, based on published regression data, to predict this.
 PREDICTING THE ECE OF COMPOST AMENDED
SOILS

Here is an Excel tool that can help.

Estimation of Initial
Compost-Soil Mixture Salinity levels
Compost Properties Soil Properties
Compost Application Rate (tons/acre): 8 Soil Texture Class:
Compost Salinity (EC 5, dS/m): 5.6 Soil Salinity (EC e, dS/m): 2
Compost Moisture Content (% wet wt.): 35% Soil Incorporation Depth (inches): 6
Compost Organic Matter (% dry wt.): 50% Soil Organic Matter (% dry wt.): 1.0%

Estimated Compost-Soil Mix Salinity (EC e , dS/m) = 3.1

Compost values should be from a from a laboratory following STA methods.

 CONCLUSIONS

Compost salts ARE like other salts. Too much

can be harmful
The benefits of using compost far outweigh the
risks however
The AgIndex can be used to guide compost
choices where salinity is a concern
The ECe of compost-soil mixes can be
predicted from soil and compost (TMECC)
measures
REMEDIATING SALINE-SODIC SOILS WITH
COMPOST AND BIOCHAR
Vijaya Chaganti and David Crohn
University of California, Riverside
SODIUM (NA) DISPERSES SOILS.
GYPSUM (CASO∙2H2O) FACILITATES REMOVAL.

Dispersed soil Flocculated soil

Negatively charged clay surface

Negatively charged clay surface

Negatively charged clay surface

Negatively charged clay surface

Rengasamy and Sumner, 1998.

 Methods
 Three replicates
 Composts applied at
a standard rate of
33 t/ac d/w basis
 Incubated for 30 days
at room temperature
 Leached by maintaining
a 2 inch constant head
 Stopped after 6 pore
volumes of water pass
though column
QUESTIONS
1. Can compost or biochar be used to remediate a saline-sodic soil?
2. Should gypsum be
added as well?
3. Does it help that
compost supports
life in the soil?
 Salinity: Gypsum accelerated
performance of amendments
60

 Control
Cumulative Na+ Leached (meq)

50 soil
 Gypsum
50% rate
40
 BSC:
biosolids compost
30  BSCG:
biosolids compost
Control + gypsum
20 Gypsum
 GWC:
BC
BCG greenwaste compost
10
BSC  GWCG:
BSCG
greenwaste compost
GWC
GWCG + gypsum
0  BC:
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 biochar
 BCG:
Cumulative Time (min)
biochar + gypsum
 Salinity: Ece improved everywhere

30
Initial Post Leaching
a a
a a a
25 a a a  U: unsterilized
 S: sterilized
Soil ECe (dS m-1)

20
 SC:
soil alone (control)
15  WBC:
woodchip biochar
 BSC:
10 biosolids compost
 GWC :
a a
5 b b b b greenwaste compost
b b

0
USC UWBC UBSC UGWC SC SWBC SBSC SGWC
 Texture: Wet aggregate stability was greatest
in the (unsterilized) composts.
60
Initial c c c
After Incubation c
Post leaching
50
Wet Aggregate Stability (%)

b b  U: unsterilized
b
b  S: sterilized
40 a a  SC:
a a a a soil alone (control)
a a a a a a a a a
a
30  WBC:
woodchip biochar
 BSC:
20 biosolids compost
 GWC :
greenwaste compost
10

0
USC UWBC UBSC UGWC SC SWBC SBSC SGWC
 CEC: Most improved in the composts.

34 Initial
Post Leaching

32  U: unsterilized
b b b  S: sterilized
CEC (meq/100g)

30 b  SC:
soil alone (control)
28  WBC:
woodchip biochar
a  BSC:
26 a a a
a a a a biosolids compost
a a a a
24  GWC :
greenwaste compost
22

20
USC UWBC UBSC UGWC SC SWBC SBSC SGWC
A FURTHER BENEFIT OF COMPOST: LIFE

Encourages the formation of soil aggregates

Aggregates are soil clusters held together as a result of compost decomposition
 Fungal hyphae
bind particles
together
 Bacterial
polysaccharides
serve as glue
Aggregated soils facilitate
leaching for salt removal
 Na+: Improved fastest in unsterilized
composts.
60
Cumulative Na+ Leached (meq)

50
 U: unsterilized
 S: sterilized
40
 SC:
soil alone (control)
30  WBC:
woodchip biochar
USC
SC  BSC:
20 UBC biosolids compost
SBC  GWC :
UBSC
10 greenwaste compost
SBSC
UGWC
SGWC
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

Cumulative Time (min)

CONCLUSIONS

Compost protects public health and the

environment while safeguarding crops
and improving soils.
Oh…
Using it also preserves landfill space.