Effect of Disposal of Effluent and Paunch from a Meat Processing Factory on Soil Chemical and Microbial Properties

• Published in: Water, air, and soil pollution air, and soil pollution, 2013-09, Vol.224 (9), p.1-14, Article 1655
• Main Authors: Liu, Y.-Y., Haynes, R. J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acidic soils; Acidity; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Bacteria; Biological and medical sciences; Biomass; Carboxylic acids; Chemical properties; Citric acid; Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts; Crops; DNA-directed RNA polymerase; Earth and Environmental Science; Effluents; Electric properties; Electrical conductivity; Environment; Environmental impact; Environmental monitoring; Environmental studies; Factories; Food industries; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hydrogeology; Irrigation; Irrigation effects; Meat; Meat industry; Meat processing; Organic soils; Pasture; Principal components analysis; rRNA 16S; Salinity; Soil microorganisms; Soil properties; Soil salinity; Soil Science & Conservation; Soils; Sorghum; Statistical analysis; Structure-function relationships; Synecology; Water conservation; Water Quality/Water Pollution
• ISSN: 0049-6979; 1573-2932
• DOI: 10.1007/s11270-013-1655-5

The effects of irrigation with meat processing factory effluent (MPE) in combination with additions of paunch to three arable sites and one pasture site on soil chemical and microbial properties were investigated in fields surrounding a beef meat processing factory. A pasture site that had only received MPE was also sampled along with adjoining arable and pasture control fields that had never received MPE or paunch. Additions of MPE/paunch caused increases in electrical conductivity, exchangeable Na and K, exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), extractable P, organic C, total N, microbial biomass C, and metabolic quotient and decreases in exchangeable Ca and Mg, pH, and the proportion of organic C present as microbial biomass. The structure and diversity of bacterial and fungal communities was measured by polymerase chain reaction–denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of 16S rDNA and internal transcribed spacer-RNA amplicons respectively and catabolic diversity by analysis of catabolic response profiles to 25 substrates. Principal component analysis of catabolic response profiles clearly separated control from MPE/paunch-treated sites, and this was associated with greater catabolic responses to the carboxylic acids α-ketoglutaric, α-ketobutyric, l -ascorbic, and citric acid in the control. At the arable sites, application of MPE and paunch caused increases in bacterial, fungal, and catabolic diversity. Canonical correspondence analysis of the relationship between catabolic, bacterial, and fungal fingerprints and soil properties indicated that the main soil variables separating MPE/paunch treatments from controls were the higher organic C, ESP, and extractable P and a lower pH, exchangeable Ca, and Mg. It was concluded that, although long-term MPE/paunch additions induce soil salinity, sodicity, and acidity, in general, they cause an increase in the size, activity, and structural and functional diversity of in the soil microbial community.