Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2017, 65(4), 1183-1188 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201765041183

Digestate and Fugate - Fertilizers with Ecotoxicological Risks

Daniel Jančula1, Štěpán Zezulka1, Michal Došek2, Miroslava Beklová3, Barbora Havelková3, Blahoslav Maršálek1
1 Department of Experimental Phycology and Ecotoxicology, Institute of Botany, Czech Academy of Science, Lidická 25/27, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic
2 Asio Ltd., Kšírova 45, 619 00 Brno, Czech Republic
3 Department of Ecology and Diseases of Game, Fish and Bees, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Palackého 1946/1, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic

Increasing number of decentralised biogas plants increases not only the amount of biogas produced, but also the production of digestate. Digestate and fugate are believed to be good fertilizers. However, there is often a tradeoff between other environmental impacts linked to agricultural production like eutrophication or ecotoxicity. Only limited ecotoxicological information is known about the effects of digestate or fugate on terrestrial fauna and flora.
This is the first study comparing the survival and reproduction of collembolans as the representative soil fauna and the root growth and photosynthetic activity of Sinapis alba and Panicum miliaceum plants when exposed to digestate and fugate. Comparison of ecotoxicological results with chemical analysis of both digestate and fugate has led to the conclusions that application of digestate and fugate was beneficial neither for tested plants, nor for zooedaphon. Under practically used dosing both digestate and fugate can represent potential ecotoxicological problems, which can affect zooedaphon diversity and reproduction resulting in degradation of soil structure, reduction of microbial activity or water retention capacity of treated soils. That is why we do recommend at least simplified ecotoxicological testing of digestate as presented in this study. Ecotoxicity testing can support decision of direct application on soil, or mixing the digestate with other materials (like compost, manure, pond sediments, or biochar), what will help to utilize nutrients and consequently can prevent degradation of soil fertility.

Keywords: digestate, fugate, ecotoxicity, soil fertility
Grants and funding:

This research was supported by the Project no. QJ1320234 "From waste to resources" which is funded by the Czech National Agency for Agricultural Research (NAZV).

Published: September 1, 2017  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Jančula, D., Zezulka, Š., Došek, M., Beklová, M., Havelková, B., & Maršálek, B. (2017). Digestate and Fugate - Fertilizers with Ecotoxicological Risks. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 65(4), 1183-1188. doi: 10.11118/actaun201765041183
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. BADERNA, D., LOMAZZI, E., POGLIAGHI, A., CIACCIA, G., LODI, M. and BENFENATI, E. 2015. Acute phytotoxicity of seven metals alone and in mixture: Are Italian soil threshold concentrations suitable for plant protection? Environ Res., 140: 102 - 111. DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2015.03.023 Go to original source...
    2. BUR, T., CROUAU, Y., BIANCO, A., GANDOIS, L., and PROBST, A. 2012. Toxicity of Pb and of Pb/Cd combination on the springtail Folsomia candida in natural soils: Reproduction, growth and bioaccumulation as indicators. Sci. Total Environ, 414: 187 - 197. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.10.029 Go to original source...
    3. INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR STANDARDIZATION. 2014. Soil quality - Inhibition of reproduction of Collembola (Folsomia candida) by soil contaminants. DIN EN ISO 11267.
    4. INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR STANDARDIZATION. 2012. Soil quality - Determination of the effects of pollutants on soil flora - Part 2: Effects of contaminated soil on the emergence and early growth of higher plants. DIN EN ISO 11269 - 2.
    5. EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT. 2003. Regulation (EC) No. 2003/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13. October 2003 relating to fertilisers. Official Journal of the European Union, L304: 1 - 194.
    6. FOUNTAIN, M. T. and HOPKIN, S. P. 2004. A comparative study of the effects of metal contamination on collembola in the field and in the laboratory. Ecotoxicology, 13: 573 - 587. DOI: 10.1023/B:ECTX.0000037194.66321.2c Go to original source...
    7. GOMEZ-BRANDON, M., JUAREZ, M. F. D., ZANGERLE, M. and INSAM, H. 2016. Effects of digestate on soil chemical and microbiological properties: A comparative study with compost and vermicompost. J. Hazard. Mater., 302: 267 - 274. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2015.09.067 Go to original source...
    8. KOLÁŘ, L. and KUŽEL, V. The use of wastes from biogas station. In: Reasonable Use of Fertilizers - Conference Proceedings. November 26, 2009. Prague. Prague: Czech University of Life Sciences.
    9. NATAL-DA-LUZ, T., OJEDA, G., PRATAS, J., VAN GASTEL, C. A. M. and SOUSA, J. P. 2011. Toxicity to Eisenia andrei and Folsomia candida of a metal mixture applied to soil directly or via an organic matrix. Ecotox. Environ. Safe., 74: 1715 - 1720. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2011.05.017 Go to original source...
    10. PIVATO, A., VANIN, S., RAGA, R., LAVAGNOLO, M. C., BARAUSSE, A., RIEPLE, A., LAURENT, A. and COSSU, R. 2016. Use of digestate from a decentralized on-farm biogas plant as fertilizer in soils: An ecotoxicological study for future indicators in risk and life cycle assessment. Waste Manag., 49: 378 - 389. DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2015.12.009 Go to original source...
    11. SCOTT-FORDSMAND, J.J., KROGH, P. H. and WEEKS, J. M. 1997. Sublethal toxicity of copper to a soil-dwelling springtail Folsomia, metaria (Collembola: Isotomidae). Environ. Toxicol. Chem., 16: 2538 - 2542. DOI: 10.1002/etc.5620161215 Go to original source...
    12. ŠIMON, T., KUNZOVÁ, E. and FRIEDLOVÁ, M. 2015. The effect of digestate, cattle slurry and mineral fertilization on the winter wheat yield and soil quality parameters. Plant Soil Environ., 61(11): 522 - 527. DOI: 10.17221/530/2015-PSE Go to original source...
    13. SMIT, C.E. and VAN GESTEL, C. A.M. 1997. Influence of temperature on the regulation and toxicity of zinc in Folsomia candida (Collembola). Ecotox Environ Safe., 37(3): 213 - 222. DOI: 10.1006/eesa.1997.1558 Go to original source...
    14. TIGINI, V., FRANCHINO, M., BONA, F. and VARESE, G. C. 2016. Is digestate safe? A study on its ecotoxicity and environmental risk on a pig manure. Sci. Total Environ., 551 - 552: 127 - 132. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.02.004 Go to original source...
    15. TLUSTOŠ, P., SZÁKOVÁ, J., ŠICHOROVÁ, K., PAVLÍKOVÁ, D. and BALÍK, J. 2007. Risks of metals in soils in agroecosystems in Czech Republic. Scientific Committee for Phytosanitary and Environment. Prague: Crop Research Institute.
    16. TRUBLAEVICH, Z. N. and SEMENOVA, E.N. 1997. Estimation of soil toxicity using a laboratory culture of springtails (Folsomia candida). Russ. J. Ecol., 28: 335 - 338.
    17. VOELKNER, A., HOLTHUSEN, D. and HORN, R. 2015. Influence of homogenized residues of anaerobic digestate on the physicochemical properties of differently textured soils. J. Plant. Nutr. Soil. Sci., 178(2): 261 - 269. DOI: 10.1002/jpln.201400138 Go to original source...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY NC ND 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content