NITROGEN MINERALIZATION OF SEWAGE SLUDGES IN SOILS

The purpose of this study was to determine N-mineralization of two sewage sludges in two different soils, comparing leached and nonleached incubation procedures. The cumulative N mineralized during successive incubation periods increased linearly with incubation time and sludge incorporation rate. The mineralization process was more influenced by soil type than by rate and kind of sludge applied. The amount of mineralized-N was higher for the leaching procedure. This cumulative-N expressed as the percentage of applied organic-N was inversely dependent on sewage sludge rate added for the leached procedure and is independent of the rate for the nonleached. The potential mineralizable N increased with the sludge rate applied and was higher for aerobic sludge and neutral soil. In general, the leached method gave twofold higher values than the nonleached method.