Abstract
Lignite fly ash (LFA), being alkaline and endowed with excellent pozzolanic properties, a silt loam texture, and plant nutrients, has the potential to improve soil quality and productivity. Long-term field trials with groundnut, maize, and sun hemp were carried out to study the effect of LFA on growth and yield. Before crop I was sown, LFA was applied at various doses with and without press mud (an organic waste from the sugar industry, used as an amendment and source of nutrients). LFA with and without press mud was also applied before crops III and V were cultivated. Chemical fertilizer, along with gypsum, humic acid, and biofertilizer, was applied in all treatments, including the control. With one-time and repeat applications of LFA (with and without press mud), yield increased significantly (7.0–89.0%) in relation to the control crop. The press mud enhanced the yield (3.0–15.0%) with different LFA applications. The highest yield LFA dose was 200 t/ha for one-time and repeat applications, the maximum yield being with crop III (combination treatment). One-time and repeat application of LFA (alone and in combination with press mud) improved soil quality and the nutrient content of the produce. The highest dose of LFA (200 t/ha) with and without press mud showed the best residual effects (eco-friendly increases in the yield of succeeding crops). Some increase in trace- and heavy-metal contents and in the level of γ-emitters in soil and crop produce, but well within permissible limits, was observed. Thus, LFA can be used on a large scale to boost soil fertility and productivity with no adverse effects on the soil or crops, which may solve the problem of bulk disposal of fly ash in an eco-friendly manner.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adriano DC, Woodford TA, Ciravolo TG (1978) Growth and elemental composition of corn and bean seedlings as influenced by soil application of coal ash. J Envir Qual 7:416–421
Adriano DC, Page AL, Chang AC, Elsweei AA (1982) Cd availability to Sudan grass grown on soils amended with sewage sludge and fly ash. J Envir Qual 11:197–203
Adriano DC, Page AL, Elseewi AA, Chang AC, Straughan IR (1980) Utilization and disposal of fly ash and other coal residues in terrestrial ecosystems: A review. J Envir Qual 9:333–334
Adriano DC, Weber J, Bolen NS, Paramasivam S, Koo B-J, Sajwan KS (2002) Effects of high rates of coal fly ash on soil, turfgrass, and groundwater quality. Water Air Soil Pollution 139:365–385
Alloway BJ (1995) Heavy metals in soil. 2nd ed. Blackie, London, UK
Asokan P, Saxena M, Asolekar SR (2005) Coal combustion residues—environmental implications and recycling potentials. Resources Conserv Recycling 43:239–262
Banuelos GS, Ajwa HA (1999) Trace elements in soils and plants: An overview. J Envir Sci Health A34:951–974
Bhumbla DK, Singh RN, Keefer RF (1991) Water quality from surface mined land reclaimed with fly ash. In: Proceedings of the 9th International Symposium on Management and Use of Coal Combustion Byproducts (CCBs). American Coal Ash Association, Aurora, Colorado pp 57-1–57-22
Bowen HJW (1966) Trace elements in biochemistry. Academic Press, London, UK
Butnik AS, Ischenko GS (1990) Effect of mineral and organic fertilisers on uptake of uranium and thorium by cotton and wheat. Soviet Soil Sci 22:42–47
CARD (Centre for Applied Research and Development) (1997) Soil reclamation of backfilled areas of Neyveli opencast mines. CARD, Neyveli Lignite Corporation, and Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, India
Carlson CC, Adriano DC (1993) Environmental impacts of coal combustion residues. J Envir Qual 22:227–247
Chambers JC, Sidle RC (1991) Fate of heavy metals in an abandoned lead–zinc tailing pond. I: Vegetation. J Envir Qual 20:745–751
Chaney RL (1973) Crop and food chain effects of toxic elements in sludge and effluents. In: Recycling municipal sludges and effects on land. US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC pp 129–141
Chaney RL, Giardono PM (1977) Microelements as related to plant deficiencies and toxicities. In: Elliot LF, Stevenson FJ (eds.) Soils for management of organic waste water. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, Wisconsin pp 235–279
Chang AC, Lund LJ, Page AL, Warneke JE (1977) Physical properties of fly ash amended soils. J Envir Qual 6:267–270
Chhonkar PK, Bhadraray S, Patra AK, Purakayastha TJ (2002) Practical manual on soil biology and biochemistry. Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India
Eisenbud M, Thomas G (1977) Environmental radioactivity. Academic Press, New York
Elseewi AA, Bingham FT, Pope AL (1980) Availability of S in fly ash to plants. J Envir Health 7:69–73
Freed RD, Eisensmith SP (1991) MSTAT-C (version 1.41). Crop and Soil Department, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
Fulekar MH (1993) The pH effects of leaching of fly ash heavy metals: laboratory experiment. Indian J Envir Protection 13:185–192
Fulekar MH, Dave JN (1986) Disposal of fly ash—an environmental problem. Int J Envir Studies 26:191–215
Furr AK, Parkinson TF, Hinricks RA, Van Campen DR, Bache CA, Gutenmann WH, St. John Jr LE, Pakkala IS, Lisk DJ (1977) National survey of elements and radioactivity in fly ashes: Absorption of elements by cabbage grown in fly ash–soil mixtures. Envir Sci Technol 11:1194–1201
ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) (1996) Handbook of agriculture. ICAR, New Delhi, India
Jackson ML (1967) Soil chemical analysis. Prentice-Hall India Pvt. Ltd., Delhi, India
Kisku GC, S.C. Barman SC, Bhargava SK (2000) Contamination of soil and plants with potentially toxic elements irrigated with mixed industrial effluent and its impact on the environment. Water Air Soil Pollution 120:121–137
Khan S, Begum T, Singh J (1996) Effect of fly ash on physico-chemical properties and nutrient status of soil. Indian J Envir Health 38:41–46
Klein DA, Loh TC, Goulding RL (1971) A rapid procedure to evaluate dehydrogenase activity of soils low in organic matter. Soil Biol Biochem 3:385–387
Lai KM, Ye DY, Wong JWC (1999) Enzyme activities in sandy soil amended with sewage sludge and coal fly ash. Water Air Soil Pollution 113:261–277
Leckie JO, Benjamin MM, Hayes K, Kaufman A, Atman S (1980) Adsorption/co-precipitation of trace elements from water with iron oxyhydroxides. Prepared by Stanford University for the Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, California. Report CS-1513
Linderman RG (1992) Mycorrhizae in sustainable agriculture. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, Wisconsin. ASA special publication no. 54
Logan TJ, Traina SJ (1993) Trace metals in agricultural soils. In: Allen HE et al. (eds). Metals in groundwater. Lewis Publishers, Chelsea, Michigan pp 309–347
Lyon TL, Buckman HO, Brady NC (1952) The nature and properties of soils. 5th ed. Macmillan, New York
Macnicol RD, Beckett PHT (1985) Critical tissue concentrations of potentially toxic elements. Plant Soil 89:107–129
Martens DC, Beahm BR (1976) Growth of plants in fly ash amended soils. In: Faber JH, and others (eds) Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Ash Utilization, St. Louis, Missouri, 24–25 March 1976. Energy Research and Development Administration, Morgantown, West Virginia. MERC SP-76/4 pp 657–666
Masto RE, Chhonkar PK, Singh D, Patra AK (2006) Changes in soil biological and biochemical characteristics in a long-term field trial on a sub-tropical Inceptisol. Soil Biol Biochem 38:1577–1582
Maxino GC (2001) Environmental potassium radioactivity and public health. Available at: http://www.physics.msuiit.edu.ph/spvm/papers/2001/maxino.pdf
McMurphy LM, Rayburn AL (1993) Nuclear alterations of maize plants grown in soil contaminated with coal fly ash. Arch Envir Contam Toxicol 25:520–524
Menon MP, Ghuman GS, James J, Chandra K, Adriano DC (1990) Physico-chemical characterization of water extracts of different coal fly ashes and fly ash–amended composts. Water Air Soil Pollution 50:343–353
Mittra BN, Karmakar S, Swain DK, Ghosh BC (2005) Fly ash—a potential source of soil amendment and a component of integrated plant nutrient supply system. Fuel 84:1447–1451
Narayanaswamy P, Nambirajan SG (2000) Discovering fly ash as pesticide. In: Varma CVJ and others (eds). Proceedings of the 2nd International CBIP Conference on Fly Ash Disposal and Utilization, New Delhi, India, 2–4 February 2000. Central Board of Irrigation and Power, New Delhi. Vol. II (Session IX), pp 31–39
Olaniya MS, Bhoyar RV, Bhide AD (1992) Effects of solid waste disposal on land. Indian J Envir Health 34:143–150
Page AL, Elseewi AA, Straughan IR (1979) Physical and chemical properties of flyash from coal–fired power plants with reference to environmental impacts. Residue Rev 7:83–120
Pichtel JR (1990) Microbial respiration in fly ash/sewage sludge-amended soils. Envir Pollution 63:225–237
Pietz RI, Carson Jr CR, Peterson JR, Denz DR, Lue-Hing C (1989) Application of sewage sludge and other amendments to coal refuse material. II: Effects on re-vegetation. J Envir Qual 18:169–173
Piper CS (1950) Soil and plant analysis. University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
Ram LC, Jha SK, Jha GK, Tripathi RC, Singh G (1999) Effect of fly ash from FSTPP on the cultivation of wheat and paddy crops in alluvial soil of Murshidabad District. In: Ram LC and others (eds) Proceedings of a National Seminar on Utilization of Fly Ash in Agriculture and for Value-Added Products. Central Fuel Research Institute, Dhanbad, India, 15–16 November 1999, pp 200–210
Ram LC, Srivastava NK, Tripathi RC, Jha SK, Sinha AK, Singh G, Manoharan V (2006) Management of mine spoil for crop productivity with lignite fly ash and biological amendments. J Envir Manage 79:173–187
Ramachandran TV, Lalit BY, Mishra UC (1990) Modifications in natural radioactivity content of soil samples around thermal power stations in India. Indian J Envir Health 32:13–19
Rubenstein R, Segal SA (1993) Risk assessment of metals in groundwater. In: Allen HE, et al. (eds) Metals in groundwater. Lewis Publishers, Chelsea, Michigan pp 209–221
Saxena M, Asokan P, Mandal S, Chauhan A (1998) Impact of fly ash phase constituents on wasteland soils. Ecol Envir Conserv 4:229–234
Sen PK, Saxena AK, Bhowmik S (1997) Groundwater contamination around ash ponds. In: Raju VS, et al. (eds) Ash ponds and ash disposal systems. Narosa Publishing House, New Delhi, India pp 326–342
Sims JT, Vasilas BL, Ghodrati M (1993) Effect of coal fly ash and co-composted sewage sludge on emergence and early growth of cover crops. Communications Soil Sci Plant Analysis 24:503–512
Sims JT, Vasilas BL, Ghodrati M (1995) Evaluation of fly ash as a soil amendment for the Atlantic Coastal Plain. II: Soil chemical properties and crop growth. Water Air Soil Pollution 81:363–372
Singh G, Tripathi PSM, Tripathi RC, Gupta SK, Jha RK, Rudra SR, Kumar V (1997) Prospects of fly ash amendment technology vis-a-vis management of solid waste in TPPs: The Indian scenario. In: Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Solid Waste Technology and Management, Widener University, Chester, Pennsylvania, 16–19 November 1997, pp 114–119
Singh G, Tripathi PSM, Tripathi RC, Jha SK, Gupta SK, Roy RRP, Jha RK, Ram LC, Srivastava NK, Yenprediwar M, Kumar V (1998) Solid waste management in TPPs: Environmental impacts of abandoned ash ponds and their biological reclamation. In: Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Solid Waste Technology and Management, Widener University, Chester, Pennsylvania, 1–4 November 1998, pp 10A
Skiba T (1987) Ability of some crop species to take up and transport 90Sr and 137Cs in relation to fertiliser application [in Polish]. Pamietnik Pulawski 89:185–193
Srivastava PC, Gupta UC (1996) Trace elements in crop production. Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India
Stevenson FJ (1982) Humus chemistry: Genesis, composition, reactions. John Wiley, New York
Tandon L (ed) (1995) Methods of analysis of soils, plants, waters and fertilizers. Fertiliser Development and Consultation Organization, New Delhi, India
UNSCEAR (United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation) (1982) Ionizing radiation: sources and biological effects. United Nations, New York
Wong JWC (1995) The production of artificial soil mix from coal fly ash and sewage sludge. Envir Technol 16:741–751
Xian X (1989) Response of kidney bean to concentration and chemical form of cadmium, zinc, and lead in polluted soils. Envir Pollution 57:127–137
Yassoglou N, Kosmas C, Asimakopoulos J, Kallianou C (1987) Heavy metal contamination of roadside soils in the Greater Athens Area. Envir Pollution 47:293–304
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the Standing Scientific Research Committee, Department of Coal, Ministry of Coal, Government of India, for providing financial assistance and to the director of CFRI and NLC authorities for providing infrastructural facilities. They also thank the director of CFRI for permitting this paper to be published.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ram, L.C., Srivastava, N.K., Jha, S.K. et al. Management of Lignite Fly Ash for Improving Soil Fertility and Crop Productivity. Environmental Management 40, 438–452 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-006-0126-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-006-0126-9