Lettuce Response to Phosphorus Fertilization with Struvite Recovered from Municipal Wastewater

By R. Gonzalez-Ponce, Esther G. López-de-Sá, C. Plaza. 2009

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Struvite (MgNH 4 PO 4 ·6H 2 O) production is widely studied as a way to remove phosphorus (P) from wastewater and generate a potentially marketable P fertilizer, but its effects on crops have yet to be researched more thoroughly. This study was conducted to evaluate struvite recovered by the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) pilot process (STR) as a source of P for lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) by comparing its effectiveness with that of single superphosphate (SUP), a common P fertilizer derived from phosphate rock. In a greenhouse pot experiment, a P-deficient loamy sand soil was amended with either SUP or STR at P rates of 0, 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 mg·kg -1 . Nitrogen and potassium were uniformly supplied to all treatments. The response of lettuce head fresh weight and P uptake to P rate exhibited statistically significant quadratic relationships for both SUP and STR. With respect to SUP, STR was significantly more effective in increasing lettuce yield and P uptake, probably because of the larger amount of magnesium (Mg) incorporated with this material and a synergistic effect on P uptake. This work supports previous findings based on other test crops in suggesting that STR can be a P source attractive to the fertilizer market with additional agronomic and environmental benefits such as providing available Mg and nitrogen, helping attenuate consumption of phosphate rock, and reducing release of P by discharge of treated wastewaters to surface and groundwater systems.

Subfields: Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/34d2e6d12d63005be2b950749423cdfe5bfcc95d