Spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is an increasingly important cash crop in the province of Queb... more Spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is an increasingly important cash crop in the province of Quebec (Canada). Soil–crop models are powerful tools for analyzing and supporting sustainable crop production. STICS model has not yet been tested for spring barley grown over several decades. This study was conducted to calibrate and evaluate the STICS model, without annual reinitialization, for predicting aboveground biomass and N nutrition attributes at harvest during 31 years of successive cropping of spring barley grown in soil (silty clay, Humic Gleysol) from the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region (northeastern Quebec, Canada). There is a good agreement between observed and predicted variables during the 31 successive barley cropping years. STICS predicted well biomass accumulation and plant N content with a low relative bias (|normalized mean error| = 0–13%) and small prediction error (normalized root mean square error = 6–25%). Overall, the STICS outputs reproduced the same trends as the...
Abstract Continuous assessment of soil heavy metal concentrations in agricultural soils is critic... more Abstract Continuous assessment of soil heavy metal concentrations in agricultural soils is critical for ensuring ecosystem health and minimizing potential adverse effects. However, conventional laboratory determinations are time-consuming, expensive and involve hazardous chemicals. We evaluated the potential of visible near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (VNIRS) to rapidly and simultaneously predict total, Mehlich-3 (M3), DTPA, and water-soluble (H 2 O) soil heavy metal concentrations. Soil samples were collected from a loam soil ( n = 64) and a loamy sand ( n = 32) after repeated annual applications (3–9 years) of paper mill biosolids (PB) and liming by-products. Models were developed using modified partial least squares regression on 75% of the total sample set and also for each soil, after removal of the spectral outliers ( n = 3), with the remainder used for validation. The coefficient of determination in validation (R 2 V ) and the ratio of performance to deviation (RPD) were used to assess model accuracy. Predictions for the total set were excellent for total Zn and Cd, M3-Cu and -Cd, and DTPA-Cd (R 2 V > 0.90, RPD > 3.0), good for total Cu, Ni and Mo, M3-Ni, DTPA-Cu and -Ni, and H 2 O-Cu and -Ni (R 2 V = 0.70 to 0.90, RPD = 1.70 to 3.0), but poor for M3-Zn, DTPA-Zn, and H 2 O-Zn, -Cd and -Mo (R 2 V
Journal of the American Society of Mining and Reclamation, 1989
There are advantages to the revegetation of the tailings of the abandoned East Sullivan mine in V... more There are advantages to the revegetation of the tailings of the abandoned East Sullivan mine in Val d' Or, Quebec, Canada. However, the tailings constitute a medium that is unfavorable to plant growth. They are highly acid, have a high iron sulphides content, and a low level of organic matter and major nutrients. Greenhouse experiments were carried out in order to evaluate the effect of the addition of septic tank sludge and wood chips on the chemical characteristics of the tailings and the growth of five plant species. A good growth of red fescue, timothy, birdsfoot trefoil, and corn was established on acid mine tailings when a combination of the organic amendments, lime and fertilizer was applied. The organic amendments incorporated to a depth of 10 cm contribute to increasing the pH of the tailings and their effluent.
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Jun 15, 2021
HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific re... more HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.
World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Environmental, Chemical, Ecological, Geological and Geophysical Engineering, 2016
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Jun 15, 2021
Minéralisa on brute à long-terme du phosphore organique du sol Exemple d'un essai de 29 ans dans ... more Minéralisa on brute à long-terme du phosphore organique du sol Exemple d'un essai de 29 ans dans un sol sableux sous trois niveaux de fer lisa on phosphatée Introduc on Objec f Matériels et méthodes Résultats et conclusions
Heavy metal contamination in wastewater is a significant concern for human health and the environ... more Heavy metal contamination in wastewater is a significant concern for human health and the environment, prompting increased efforts to develop efficient and sustainable removal methods. Despite significant efforts in the last few decades, further research initiatives remain vital to comprehensively address the long-term performance and practical scalability of various adsorption methods and adsorbents for heavy metal remediation. This article aims to provide an overview of the mechanisms, kinetics, and applications of diverse adsorbents in remediating heavy metal-contaminated effluents. Physical and chemical processes, including ion exchange, complexation, electrostatic attraction, and surface precipitation, play essential roles in heavy metal adsorption. The kinetics of adsorption, influenced by factors such as contact time, temperature, and concentration, directly impact the rate and effectiveness of metal removal. This review presents an exhaustive analysis of the various adsorben...
Mobilization of heavy metals in the environment has been a matter of concern for several decades ... more Mobilization of heavy metals in the environment has been a matter of concern for several decades due to their toxicity for humans, environments, and other living organisms. In recent years, use of inexpensive and abundantly available biosorbents generated from fibrous plant-based food-waste materials to remove heavy metals has garnered considerable research attention. The aim of this review is to investigate the applicability of using fibrous plant-based food waste, which comprises different components such as pectin, hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin, to remove heavy metals from wastewater. This contribution confirms that plant-fiber-based food waste has the potential to bind heavy metals from wastewater and aqueous solutions. The binding capacities of these biosorbents vary depending on the source, chemical structure, type of metal, modification technology applied, and process conditions used to improve functionalities. This review concludes with a discussion of arguments and p...
Conservation tillage, including no-tillage (NT), is being used increasingly with respect to conve... more Conservation tillage, including no-tillage (NT), is being used increasingly with respect to conventional tillage (CT) to mitigate soil erosion, improve water conservation and prevent land degradation. However, NT increases soil phosphorus (P) stratification, causing P runoff and eutrophication. For sustainable P management, fertilization must be balanced between P sources and actual crop demand. To reduce P losses to the environment, it is important to better understand P spatial variability in NT fields. Little is known about tillage impacts on field-scale P spatial variabi-lity in precision agriculture. This study examines tillage impacts on spatial variability of soil-avai-lable P in a maize–soybean rotation, in two commercial fields, denoted CT (10.8 ha) and NT (9.5 ha), with the aim of improving P fertilizer recommendations in Eastern Canada. NPK fertilizers were applied to the soils (Humic Gleysols) following local recommendations. Soil samples were collected in fall 2014 in r...
Phosphorus (P) is an essential nutrient for grassland production systems. However, continuous app... more Phosphorus (P) is an essential nutrient for grassland production systems. However, continuous applications of P fertilizers result in soil P accumulations, increasing the risk of P losses in runoff and erosion. This study aims to investigate the field-scale variability of soil-test P (STP) in two contrasting grassland fields using descriptive statistics and geostatistics for accurate recommendations on soil sampling strategy and sustainable approaches to P management. A young grassland (YG; 2 years) and an old grassland (OG; 10 years under permanent pasture) were classified as humo-ferric podzol and received organic fertilizers. Soil samples were collected in 16-m by 16-m triangular grids at two depths (0–5 and 5–20 cm). They were analyzed for available P and other soil elements extracted using the Mehlich-3 method (M3). The agri-environmental P saturation index (P/Al)M3 was calculated. Phosphorus accumulation was observed in OG (0–5 cm) as a result of long-term manure applications....
Anthropogenic sources of zinc (Zn), including industrial emissions and effluents, Zn–rich fertili... more Anthropogenic sources of zinc (Zn), including industrial emissions and effluents, Zn–rich fertilizer materials and pesticides containing Zn, can contribute to increasing the concentration of soluble Zn at levels toxic to plants in acid sandy soils. The application of municipal sewage sludge or biosolids (MBS) which contain metal immobilizing agents on coarse-textured soils could improve the metal sorption capacity of the low-CEC soils. The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate the sorption of Zn in surface samples (0-15 cm) of six Quebec (Canada) soils amended with MBS (pH 6.9) from Val d'Or (Quebec, Canada). Soil samples amended with increasing amounts (0 to 20%) of MBS were equilibrated with various amounts of Zn as ZnCl<sub>2</sub> in 0.01 M CaCl<sub>2</sub> for 48 hours at room temperature. Sorbed Zn was calculated from the difference between the initial and final Zn concentration in solution. Zn sorption data conformed to the linear form of Freu...
Proceedings of the 2nd World Congress on New Technologies, 2017
Copper-mine tailings contain considerable amounts of copper (Cu) that may be extracted biological... more Copper-mine tailings contain considerable amounts of copper (Cu) that may be extracted biologically or by organic ligands and may then become available to plants. A laboratory incubation experiment was conducted to assess the effect of a commercial garden growth substratum (GGS) containing natural mycorrhizae (Glomus intraradices) and peat moss in combination with lemon peel waste (LPW) on the evolution of labile Cu pool with time in a slightly alkaline Cu-mine tailing containing calcite. There were eight treatments combining four rates (0, 12.4, 50 and 100 g GGS kg-1 tailings) and two rates (0 and 100 g LPW kg-1 tailings). The amendments were thoroughly mixed with air-dry tailings in plastic bags. Distilled water was added to maintain the substrate at field capacity throughout the 8-week incubation period. The amounts of labile Cu in tailings increased with incubation time. Extractable Cu fractions as labile Cu (DTPA, Mehlich-3) were significantly increased after adding GSS and LPW. The smallest amount of labile Cu was found in the unamended tailings and the highest amount in the GGS-amended tailings.
Nitrate leaching is of great environmental concern, particularly with potatoes grown on sandy soi... more Nitrate leaching is of great environmental concern, particularly with potatoes grown on sandy soils. This 3-year study evaluated the effect of three N rates (100, 150, and 200 kg ha−1) of single applications of polymer-coated urea (PCU) and a 75% PCU + 25% urea mixture, plus a conventional split application of 200 kg N ha−1 of a 50% ammonium sulfate + 50% calcium ammonium nitrate mixture (CONV) on NO3−-N leaching, potato yield, and N uptake under irrigated and non-irrigated conditions on a sandy soil in Quebec (Canada). Fertilizer N application increased growing season NO3−-N leaching only under irrigation. On average, irrigation increased seasonal NO3−-N leaching by 52%. Under irrigated conditions, PCU reduced NO3−-N leaching compared to PCU + urea. However, both PCU and PCU + urea significantly increased NO3−-N leaching compared to the CONV at the equivalent N rate of 200 kg N ha−1. This was attributed to the timing of soil N availability and deep-water percolation. Total (TY) and...
Acidification and metal mobility may present challenges in soil receiving paper mill biosolids (P... more Acidification and metal mobility may present challenges in soil receiving paper mill biosolids (PB). Co-applying biochar and PB could help prevent these issues, but its effect must be assessed. The objective of this 224 d incubation study was to evaluate the effect of amending two acidic soils, a clay and sandy loam, with two PB types varying in pH (PB1, pH = 7.80; and PB2, pH = 4.51) co-applied with three rates (0%, 2.5%, and 5% w/w) of pine (Pinus strobus L.) biochar on soil pH and macro- (P, K, Ca, and Mg) and micronutrients (Cu, Zn, Fe, and Mn). In both soils, co-applying biochar and PB significantly increased soil pH and extractable K concentration compared with PB-only application, whereas amending with PB significantly increased soil extractable P concentration compared with the unamended soil. In comparison with PB only, co-applying 5% biochar and PB decreased extractable Cu concentration in both soils and extractable Fe concentration in the sandy loam soil. This study showe...
Residual soil NO3-N (RSN) is susceptible to loss during the non-growing season. This 5 yr study i... more Residual soil NO3-N (RSN) is susceptible to loss during the non-growing season. This 5 yr study investigated the effects of three N fertilizer sources [ammonium nitrate (AN), ammonium sulfate (AS), and polymer-coated urea (PCU)] applied at four rates (60, 120, 200, and 280 kg N ha−1) plus an unfertilized control on RSN following potato production and on overwinter NO3-N changes in an irrigated sandy soil in Quebec, Canada. Composite soil samples were collected at the 0–15, 15–30, 30–60, and 60–90 cm depths immediately after potato harvest in fall and again in the following spring from 2008 to 2012. Residual soil NO3-N content within the 0–30 cm depth (RSN0–30) was highly correlated with the RSN content in the 0–90 cm depth (RSN0–90), indicating that RSN0–30 can be used as an indicator of soil profile NO3-N accumulation. Overall, RSN0–90 increased with fertilizer N application rate, particularly for above the minimum fertilizer N rate required to maximize yield (Nmax), and was genera...
Acid mine drainage (AMD) production by sulfide mine tailing (SMT) is a major environmental preocc... more Acid mine drainage (AMD) production by sulfide mine tailing (SMT) is a major environmental preoccupation because it can degrade water surface quality on account of its strong acidity and advanced content of sulfide, iron (Fe) and other metals and metalloids. Acid neutralization and the precipitation of metals present in AMD were carried out by electro-activation with ion-exchange membranes, which is based on the self-generation of necessary conditions for acid neutralization and metal precipitation. The treatment of SMT was carried out by using an electro-activation cell generated alkaline solution in the cathode compartment. After 60 min of electro-activation, a pH catholyte of 7.9e9.6, depending on the experimental conditions, was obtained. The absence of Fe and other trace metal ions in the catholyte provide evidence that the electro-activation of SMT promotes the precipitation of insoluble trace metals in the cathode compartment. This approach can be applied to real conditions in combination with a pretreatment of SMT neutralization, in which biological calcareous amendments are available. Finally, the electro-activation technology of acid mine drainage may be a feasible, cost-effective approach for SMT neutralization because it focuses on sustainable development.
The Online Journal of Science and Technology, 2013
Biosolids from de-inking processes are increasingly being used in Quebec (Canada) to improve acid... more Biosolids from de-inking processes are increasingly being used in Quebec (Canada) to improve acid soil. The objective of this study is to determine the optimum rates of de-inking paper sludge (DPS) for attaining target soil pH values of 5.2 and 5.5 for potato grown on podzolic soil. Incubation experiment was conducted during 18 weeks with a coarse textured soil (pH 4.8) and increasing rates of CaCO 3 or DPS. Results indicate that the amounts of DPS required varied from 4.0 to 8.2 dry Mg DPS ha-1 for attaining pH 5.2 and from 7.6 to 15.2 dry Mg DPS ha-1 for attaining pH 5.5. The required amount of DPS is proportional to its total CaCO 3 equivalent.
Humified materials from the compost industry and certain waste from mining operations can be used... more Humified materials from the compost industry and certain waste from mining operations can be used as low cost toxic metal adsorbents in soils having a very low sorption capacity. An experiment was designed to assess the sorption of cadmium (Cd) by an acid coarse-textured soil (pH 5.50) amended with peat moss-shrimp waste compost (PSC), and three copper-mine tailing samples rich
Organic amendment and NPK-fertilizer could affect the distribution of copper (Cu) among Cu-mine t... more Organic amendment and NPK-fertilizer could affect the distribution of copper (Cu) among Cu-mine tailing compounds and hence the availability or phytotoxicity of Cu to plants. A laboratory incubation experiment was conducted to investigate the forms of Cu in a Cu-mine tailing (pH 7.70) amended with a commercial garden growth substratum (GGS) containing peat moss and natural mycorrhizae (Glomus intraradices) in
Spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is an increasingly important cash crop in the province of Queb... more Spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is an increasingly important cash crop in the province of Quebec (Canada). Soil–crop models are powerful tools for analyzing and supporting sustainable crop production. STICS model has not yet been tested for spring barley grown over several decades. This study was conducted to calibrate and evaluate the STICS model, without annual reinitialization, for predicting aboveground biomass and N nutrition attributes at harvest during 31 years of successive cropping of spring barley grown in soil (silty clay, Humic Gleysol) from the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region (northeastern Quebec, Canada). There is a good agreement between observed and predicted variables during the 31 successive barley cropping years. STICS predicted well biomass accumulation and plant N content with a low relative bias (|normalized mean error| = 0–13%) and small prediction error (normalized root mean square error = 6–25%). Overall, the STICS outputs reproduced the same trends as the...
Abstract Continuous assessment of soil heavy metal concentrations in agricultural soils is critic... more Abstract Continuous assessment of soil heavy metal concentrations in agricultural soils is critical for ensuring ecosystem health and minimizing potential adverse effects. However, conventional laboratory determinations are time-consuming, expensive and involve hazardous chemicals. We evaluated the potential of visible near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (VNIRS) to rapidly and simultaneously predict total, Mehlich-3 (M3), DTPA, and water-soluble (H 2 O) soil heavy metal concentrations. Soil samples were collected from a loam soil ( n = 64) and a loamy sand ( n = 32) after repeated annual applications (3–9 years) of paper mill biosolids (PB) and liming by-products. Models were developed using modified partial least squares regression on 75% of the total sample set and also for each soil, after removal of the spectral outliers ( n = 3), with the remainder used for validation. The coefficient of determination in validation (R 2 V ) and the ratio of performance to deviation (RPD) were used to assess model accuracy. Predictions for the total set were excellent for total Zn and Cd, M3-Cu and -Cd, and DTPA-Cd (R 2 V > 0.90, RPD > 3.0), good for total Cu, Ni and Mo, M3-Ni, DTPA-Cu and -Ni, and H 2 O-Cu and -Ni (R 2 V = 0.70 to 0.90, RPD = 1.70 to 3.0), but poor for M3-Zn, DTPA-Zn, and H 2 O-Zn, -Cd and -Mo (R 2 V
Journal of the American Society of Mining and Reclamation, 1989
There are advantages to the revegetation of the tailings of the abandoned East Sullivan mine in V... more There are advantages to the revegetation of the tailings of the abandoned East Sullivan mine in Val d' Or, Quebec, Canada. However, the tailings constitute a medium that is unfavorable to plant growth. They are highly acid, have a high iron sulphides content, and a low level of organic matter and major nutrients. Greenhouse experiments were carried out in order to evaluate the effect of the addition of septic tank sludge and wood chips on the chemical characteristics of the tailings and the growth of five plant species. A good growth of red fescue, timothy, birdsfoot trefoil, and corn was established on acid mine tailings when a combination of the organic amendments, lime and fertilizer was applied. The organic amendments incorporated to a depth of 10 cm contribute to increasing the pH of the tailings and their effluent.
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Jun 15, 2021
HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific re... more HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.
World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Environmental, Chemical, Ecological, Geological and Geophysical Engineering, 2016
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Jun 15, 2021
Minéralisa on brute à long-terme du phosphore organique du sol Exemple d'un essai de 29 ans dans ... more Minéralisa on brute à long-terme du phosphore organique du sol Exemple d'un essai de 29 ans dans un sol sableux sous trois niveaux de fer lisa on phosphatée Introduc on Objec f Matériels et méthodes Résultats et conclusions
Heavy metal contamination in wastewater is a significant concern for human health and the environ... more Heavy metal contamination in wastewater is a significant concern for human health and the environment, prompting increased efforts to develop efficient and sustainable removal methods. Despite significant efforts in the last few decades, further research initiatives remain vital to comprehensively address the long-term performance and practical scalability of various adsorption methods and adsorbents for heavy metal remediation. This article aims to provide an overview of the mechanisms, kinetics, and applications of diverse adsorbents in remediating heavy metal-contaminated effluents. Physical and chemical processes, including ion exchange, complexation, electrostatic attraction, and surface precipitation, play essential roles in heavy metal adsorption. The kinetics of adsorption, influenced by factors such as contact time, temperature, and concentration, directly impact the rate and effectiveness of metal removal. This review presents an exhaustive analysis of the various adsorben...
Mobilization of heavy metals in the environment has been a matter of concern for several decades ... more Mobilization of heavy metals in the environment has been a matter of concern for several decades due to their toxicity for humans, environments, and other living organisms. In recent years, use of inexpensive and abundantly available biosorbents generated from fibrous plant-based food-waste materials to remove heavy metals has garnered considerable research attention. The aim of this review is to investigate the applicability of using fibrous plant-based food waste, which comprises different components such as pectin, hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin, to remove heavy metals from wastewater. This contribution confirms that plant-fiber-based food waste has the potential to bind heavy metals from wastewater and aqueous solutions. The binding capacities of these biosorbents vary depending on the source, chemical structure, type of metal, modification technology applied, and process conditions used to improve functionalities. This review concludes with a discussion of arguments and p...
Conservation tillage, including no-tillage (NT), is being used increasingly with respect to conve... more Conservation tillage, including no-tillage (NT), is being used increasingly with respect to conventional tillage (CT) to mitigate soil erosion, improve water conservation and prevent land degradation. However, NT increases soil phosphorus (P) stratification, causing P runoff and eutrophication. For sustainable P management, fertilization must be balanced between P sources and actual crop demand. To reduce P losses to the environment, it is important to better understand P spatial variability in NT fields. Little is known about tillage impacts on field-scale P spatial variabi-lity in precision agriculture. This study examines tillage impacts on spatial variability of soil-avai-lable P in a maize–soybean rotation, in two commercial fields, denoted CT (10.8 ha) and NT (9.5 ha), with the aim of improving P fertilizer recommendations in Eastern Canada. NPK fertilizers were applied to the soils (Humic Gleysols) following local recommendations. Soil samples were collected in fall 2014 in r...
Phosphorus (P) is an essential nutrient for grassland production systems. However, continuous app... more Phosphorus (P) is an essential nutrient for grassland production systems. However, continuous applications of P fertilizers result in soil P accumulations, increasing the risk of P losses in runoff and erosion. This study aims to investigate the field-scale variability of soil-test P (STP) in two contrasting grassland fields using descriptive statistics and geostatistics for accurate recommendations on soil sampling strategy and sustainable approaches to P management. A young grassland (YG; 2 years) and an old grassland (OG; 10 years under permanent pasture) were classified as humo-ferric podzol and received organic fertilizers. Soil samples were collected in 16-m by 16-m triangular grids at two depths (0–5 and 5–20 cm). They were analyzed for available P and other soil elements extracted using the Mehlich-3 method (M3). The agri-environmental P saturation index (P/Al)M3 was calculated. Phosphorus accumulation was observed in OG (0–5 cm) as a result of long-term manure applications....
Anthropogenic sources of zinc (Zn), including industrial emissions and effluents, Zn–rich fertili... more Anthropogenic sources of zinc (Zn), including industrial emissions and effluents, Zn–rich fertilizer materials and pesticides containing Zn, can contribute to increasing the concentration of soluble Zn at levels toxic to plants in acid sandy soils. The application of municipal sewage sludge or biosolids (MBS) which contain metal immobilizing agents on coarse-textured soils could improve the metal sorption capacity of the low-CEC soils. The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate the sorption of Zn in surface samples (0-15 cm) of six Quebec (Canada) soils amended with MBS (pH 6.9) from Val d'Or (Quebec, Canada). Soil samples amended with increasing amounts (0 to 20%) of MBS were equilibrated with various amounts of Zn as ZnCl<sub>2</sub> in 0.01 M CaCl<sub>2</sub> for 48 hours at room temperature. Sorbed Zn was calculated from the difference between the initial and final Zn concentration in solution. Zn sorption data conformed to the linear form of Freu...
Proceedings of the 2nd World Congress on New Technologies, 2017
Copper-mine tailings contain considerable amounts of copper (Cu) that may be extracted biological... more Copper-mine tailings contain considerable amounts of copper (Cu) that may be extracted biologically or by organic ligands and may then become available to plants. A laboratory incubation experiment was conducted to assess the effect of a commercial garden growth substratum (GGS) containing natural mycorrhizae (Glomus intraradices) and peat moss in combination with lemon peel waste (LPW) on the evolution of labile Cu pool with time in a slightly alkaline Cu-mine tailing containing calcite. There were eight treatments combining four rates (0, 12.4, 50 and 100 g GGS kg-1 tailings) and two rates (0 and 100 g LPW kg-1 tailings). The amendments were thoroughly mixed with air-dry tailings in plastic bags. Distilled water was added to maintain the substrate at field capacity throughout the 8-week incubation period. The amounts of labile Cu in tailings increased with incubation time. Extractable Cu fractions as labile Cu (DTPA, Mehlich-3) were significantly increased after adding GSS and LPW. The smallest amount of labile Cu was found in the unamended tailings and the highest amount in the GGS-amended tailings.
Nitrate leaching is of great environmental concern, particularly with potatoes grown on sandy soi... more Nitrate leaching is of great environmental concern, particularly with potatoes grown on sandy soils. This 3-year study evaluated the effect of three N rates (100, 150, and 200 kg ha−1) of single applications of polymer-coated urea (PCU) and a 75% PCU + 25% urea mixture, plus a conventional split application of 200 kg N ha−1 of a 50% ammonium sulfate + 50% calcium ammonium nitrate mixture (CONV) on NO3−-N leaching, potato yield, and N uptake under irrigated and non-irrigated conditions on a sandy soil in Quebec (Canada). Fertilizer N application increased growing season NO3−-N leaching only under irrigation. On average, irrigation increased seasonal NO3−-N leaching by 52%. Under irrigated conditions, PCU reduced NO3−-N leaching compared to PCU + urea. However, both PCU and PCU + urea significantly increased NO3−-N leaching compared to the CONV at the equivalent N rate of 200 kg N ha−1. This was attributed to the timing of soil N availability and deep-water percolation. Total (TY) and...
Acidification and metal mobility may present challenges in soil receiving paper mill biosolids (P... more Acidification and metal mobility may present challenges in soil receiving paper mill biosolids (PB). Co-applying biochar and PB could help prevent these issues, but its effect must be assessed. The objective of this 224 d incubation study was to evaluate the effect of amending two acidic soils, a clay and sandy loam, with two PB types varying in pH (PB1, pH = 7.80; and PB2, pH = 4.51) co-applied with three rates (0%, 2.5%, and 5% w/w) of pine (Pinus strobus L.) biochar on soil pH and macro- (P, K, Ca, and Mg) and micronutrients (Cu, Zn, Fe, and Mn). In both soils, co-applying biochar and PB significantly increased soil pH and extractable K concentration compared with PB-only application, whereas amending with PB significantly increased soil extractable P concentration compared with the unamended soil. In comparison with PB only, co-applying 5% biochar and PB decreased extractable Cu concentration in both soils and extractable Fe concentration in the sandy loam soil. This study showe...
Residual soil NO3-N (RSN) is susceptible to loss during the non-growing season. This 5 yr study i... more Residual soil NO3-N (RSN) is susceptible to loss during the non-growing season. This 5 yr study investigated the effects of three N fertilizer sources [ammonium nitrate (AN), ammonium sulfate (AS), and polymer-coated urea (PCU)] applied at four rates (60, 120, 200, and 280 kg N ha−1) plus an unfertilized control on RSN following potato production and on overwinter NO3-N changes in an irrigated sandy soil in Quebec, Canada. Composite soil samples were collected at the 0–15, 15–30, 30–60, and 60–90 cm depths immediately after potato harvest in fall and again in the following spring from 2008 to 2012. Residual soil NO3-N content within the 0–30 cm depth (RSN0–30) was highly correlated with the RSN content in the 0–90 cm depth (RSN0–90), indicating that RSN0–30 can be used as an indicator of soil profile NO3-N accumulation. Overall, RSN0–90 increased with fertilizer N application rate, particularly for above the minimum fertilizer N rate required to maximize yield (Nmax), and was genera...
Acid mine drainage (AMD) production by sulfide mine tailing (SMT) is a major environmental preocc... more Acid mine drainage (AMD) production by sulfide mine tailing (SMT) is a major environmental preoccupation because it can degrade water surface quality on account of its strong acidity and advanced content of sulfide, iron (Fe) and other metals and metalloids. Acid neutralization and the precipitation of metals present in AMD were carried out by electro-activation with ion-exchange membranes, which is based on the self-generation of necessary conditions for acid neutralization and metal precipitation. The treatment of SMT was carried out by using an electro-activation cell generated alkaline solution in the cathode compartment. After 60 min of electro-activation, a pH catholyte of 7.9e9.6, depending on the experimental conditions, was obtained. The absence of Fe and other trace metal ions in the catholyte provide evidence that the electro-activation of SMT promotes the precipitation of insoluble trace metals in the cathode compartment. This approach can be applied to real conditions in combination with a pretreatment of SMT neutralization, in which biological calcareous amendments are available. Finally, the electro-activation technology of acid mine drainage may be a feasible, cost-effective approach for SMT neutralization because it focuses on sustainable development.
The Online Journal of Science and Technology, 2013
Biosolids from de-inking processes are increasingly being used in Quebec (Canada) to improve acid... more Biosolids from de-inking processes are increasingly being used in Quebec (Canada) to improve acid soil. The objective of this study is to determine the optimum rates of de-inking paper sludge (DPS) for attaining target soil pH values of 5.2 and 5.5 for potato grown on podzolic soil. Incubation experiment was conducted during 18 weeks with a coarse textured soil (pH 4.8) and increasing rates of CaCO 3 or DPS. Results indicate that the amounts of DPS required varied from 4.0 to 8.2 dry Mg DPS ha-1 for attaining pH 5.2 and from 7.6 to 15.2 dry Mg DPS ha-1 for attaining pH 5.5. The required amount of DPS is proportional to its total CaCO 3 equivalent.
Humified materials from the compost industry and certain waste from mining operations can be used... more Humified materials from the compost industry and certain waste from mining operations can be used as low cost toxic metal adsorbents in soils having a very low sorption capacity. An experiment was designed to assess the sorption of cadmium (Cd) by an acid coarse-textured soil (pH 5.50) amended with peat moss-shrimp waste compost (PSC), and three copper-mine tailing samples rich
Organic amendment and NPK-fertilizer could affect the distribution of copper (Cu) among Cu-mine t... more Organic amendment and NPK-fertilizer could affect the distribution of copper (Cu) among Cu-mine tailing compounds and hence the availability or phytotoxicity of Cu to plants. A laboratory incubation experiment was conducted to investigate the forms of Cu in a Cu-mine tailing (pH 7.70) amended with a commercial garden growth substratum (GGS) containing peat moss and natural mycorrhizae (Glomus intraradices) in
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Papers by Antoine Karam