Effect of end products on the soil microbial communities
Abstract
The recovery of waste and the production of an end product after treatment is a widespread technique for waste re-use. The probability to add bacterial pathogens able to survive in soil will firstly depend on their ability to survive and maintain in end products. Composting is widely used to produce organic fertilizer from waste and to reduce pathogen concentration. The direct consequence of pathogen survival in end products is a possible soil contamination through land spreading. Long term field trials with several applications over the years would be helpful to understand better the impact on the soil microbial communities and the survival and regrowth of pathogens. The diversity of soil microbial communities depends on soil heterogeneity. No-tillage or reduced tillage becomes trendy because it provides beneficial effects such as reduced soil loss by wind erosion.