Allen, K, Rodríguez López, EL, Banwart, SA et al. (1 more author) (2023) A Systematic Review of the Effects of Fecal Sludge Derived Amendments on Crop Growth and Soil Health. ACS ES&T engineering, 3 (6). pp. 746-761. ISSN 2690-0645
Abstract
The use of human excreta in agricultural settings has the potential to meet crop nutrient requirements and improve soil health, while also providing a sustainable end use for fecal material. Previous reviews have focused on sewage sludge biosolids from wastewater treatment plants, but with on-site sanitation systems overtaking sewers as the leading sanitation system worldwide, greater attention to fecal sludge is warranted. This systematic Review is the first to compile the results of crop trials which utilized fecal amendments from on-site sanitation systems and includes 47 experiments. Overall, fecal amendments increased crop growth compared to unamended control plots and also produced comparable yields to synthetic fertilizers. Biological and physical soil parameters were underrepresented in the literature, which made a holistic assessment of soil health impossible. However, some improvements in chemical characteristics were observed, most notably for soil organic carbon. Inconsistent experimental design made aggregation of results and detailed statistical analysis difficult, highlighting the need for a more standardized approach for testing the efficacy of amendments and reporting results. Regardless, this Review compiles our collective existing knowledge to provide tentative results for the effect of fecal amendments on crop growth and soil health and offers recommendations for future work.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | ecological sanitation; circular economy; fecal sludge; crop trials; soil health |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Civil Engineering (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Earth Surface Science Institute (ESSI) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 01 Jun 2023 14:50 |
Last Modified: | 19 Jul 2023 15:42 |
Published Version: | https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsestengg.2c0043... |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Chemical Society |
Identification Number: | 10.1021/acsestengg.2c00438 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:199774 |
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