Nitrogen Leaching from Saybrook Soil Amended with Biosolid and Polyacrylamide

In this study, nitrogen leaching following surface application of biosolids with and without polyacrylamide (PAM) coating was investigated using soil column experiments. Three treatments including bare soil (C), a commercially available biosolid (BS) and PAM coated biosolid (PAM + BS) were applied to manually packed (bulk density: 1.3 g times cm super(-3)) growth chamber soil columns (GC columns: 5 cm diameter by 40 cm long) and greenhouse soil columns (GH columns: 15 cm diameter by 40 cm long). The leachate volume and NH)d4-N, NO sub(3)-N and TN concentration/load were not significantly different among the treatments for the GH columns but were significantly different during the incubation period. The same was true for GC columns with the exception of NO sub(3)-N and TN concentration/load which, overall, were higher for the BS and PAM + BS treatments than for the C treatment. The NO sub(3)-N concentrations were highest in the middle of the incubation and greater than the USEPA target level (10 mg/L).