Vegetable, fruit and garden waste compost Boutersem, Belgium
- Local identifier
- gft Boutersem
- Years operational
- 1997—
- Objective
- This long-term study addresses five research questions related to vegetable, fruit and garden waste compost: 1. What is the fertilization value (N, P, K, Mg, Ca, Na) of VFG compost for arable crops?, 2. What is the long-term effect of applying VFG compost on chemical soil fertility (N, P, K, Mg, Ca, Na), soil acidity (pH), humus content (%C) and salt concentration ?, 3. What is the effect of the different applications in dose and time of VFG compost on the status, yield and quality of arable crops?, 4. What is the effect of multi-year VFG compost application on soil physical properties?, 5. What is the effect of multi-year VFG waste compost application on soil biological properties?
- Data Access Statement
- Available to collaborators only
- Data license
- Don't know
- Data policy
- No
- Organization
- Bodemkundige Dienst van België vzw (Soil Service of Belgium)research organisation
- People
- Dr. Ir. Annemie Elsenprincipal investigatorBodemkundige Dienst van België vzw (Soil Service of Belgium)Ir. Stijn Martensexperiment managerBodemkundige Dienst van België vzw (Soil Service of Belgium)Dr. Ir. Mieke VerbeeckBodemkundige Dienst van België vzw (Soil Service of Belgium)
Site: gft Boutersem
- Type
- farmer field
- Location
- NeervelpVlaams-BrabantBelgium
- Geographic location
- 50.81986, 4.81032
- Elevation
- 81 Metres
- Slope
- (Northeast (NE) facing)
- Visits permitted?
- No
- Soil type
- Haplic Luvisol
- Climatic type
- temperate humid continental climate
- Climate description
- Cfb, temperate, no dry season, warm summer
Design period: (1997—)
- Design Type
- Randomized complete block design
- Design description
- The treatments consist of an unfertilised control treatment, a control treatment with only mineral fertilisation, an unfertilised fallow plot and nine compost treatments, with those in a full-factorial design with 2 factors, i.e., compost dose at three levels (15, 30 en 45 ton/ha) and rate at three levels (yearly, 2-yearly and 3-yearly application). Starting from 1998, in 2 treatments (respectively 45 tonnes VFG/ha 3-yearly and yearly), the plant cover (crop and weeds) was removed in part of the plots (5×5 m²) resulting in 2 x 4 replicated additional fallow mini-plots. Initially, the compost treatments received no mineral nitrogen fertilisation during the first trial years (1997 – 2002). Starting from 2003, the expected amount of nitrogen released by the applied compost during the growing season was supplemented each year with mineral N fertiliser up to the recommended level.
- Number of plots
- 48
- Number of replicates
- 4
- Number of harvests per year
- 1
- Crops
Crop Years grown winter wheat potatoes sugar beet carrots onions chicory - Factors
- Factor name
- Factor levels
- natural fertilizer exposure Compost dose.
- natural fertilizer exposure Compost application rate.
- Measurements
Variable Material Units Frequency Scale Comment soil mineral N Soil mg/kg several times per year nitrate and ammonium, in 3 soil layers (0-30, 30-60, 60-90) soil organic carbon Soil % annually yield All crops t/ha annually nutrient content All crops annually
Related publications
- De Clercq, T., Heiling, M., Dercon, G., Resch, C., Aigner, M., Mayer, L., Mao, Y., Elsen, A., Steier, P., Leifeld, J., & Merckx, R. (2015). Predicting soil organic matter stability in agricultural fields through carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 88, 29–38.
- De Clercq, T., Merckx, R., Elsen, A., & Vandendriessche, H. (2016). Impact of long-term compost amendments on soil fertility, soil organic matter fractions and nitrogen mineralization. Acta Horticulturae, 1146, 79–86.
- Tits, M., Elsen, A., Bries, J., & Vandendriessche, H. (2014). Short-term and long-term effects of vegetable, fruit and garden waste compost applications in an arable crop rotation in Flanders. Plant and Soil, 376(1), 43–59
- Panagea, I. S., Berti, A., Čermak, P., Diels, J., Elsen, A., Kusá, H., Piccoli, I., Poesen, J., Stoate, C., Tits, M., Toth, Z., & Wyseure, G. (2021). Soil water retention as affected by management induced changes of soil organic carbon: Analysis of long-term experiments in europe. Land, 10(12).
- Hannula, S. E., Di Lonardo, D. P., Christensen, B. T., Crotty, F. V., Elsen, A., van Erp, P. J., Hansen, E. M., Rubæk, G. H., Tits, M., Toth, Z., & Termorshuizen, A. J. (2021). Inconsistent effects of agricultural practices on soil fungal communities across 12 European long-term experiments. European Journal of Soil Science, 72(4), 1902–1923.