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Application of Wood Ash and Pulp and Paper Sludge to Eucalyptus grandis in
Three Brazilian Soils

Article · January 2000

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 Chapter 21

Application of Wood Ash and Pulp and Paper Sludge

to Eucalyptus grandis in Three Brazilian Soils
I. A. GUERRINI and R. L. VILLAS BÔAS
Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas/UNESP, C.P. 237, CEP 18603-970, Botucatu, SP, Brazil
V. BENEDETTI
IPEF/ESALQ/Universidade de São Paulo, C.P. 9, CEP 13418-900, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil
J. COMÉRIO and L. MORO
Champion Papel e Celulose Ltda., C.P. 176, CEP 13840-970, Mogi Guaçu, SP, Brazil
Abstract—In areas under “cerrado” vegetation, applications of wood ash and pulp and paper sludge were evaluated
and compared to chemical fertilization of Eucalyptus grandis in three Brazilian soils. Besides an increasing concentra-
tion of nutrients in the soil and trees, results showed that industrial residues applied at planting as well as at 1 year
old could substitute for chemical fertilization carried out at the same age. Annual application of these materials for
three consecutive years did not influence soil organic matter content but did promote growth increments ranging
from 38 to 64% in volume; after 5 years, trees in Oxisol produced 75% more volume than those that were chemi-
cally fertilized.

Alternative uses of industrial residues from forestry com-
panies have increased in Brazil. First because of the high
costs of landfills, and second because of environmental
considerations. Use of industrial residues to fertilize plan-
tation forests has become the best way to discharge these
materials, either by improving growth of Eucalyptus plan-
tations or by lowering the cost of commercial fertiliza-
tion.
Soils used for reforestation in Brazil generally are un-
der “cerrado” vegetation (savanna). These soils have low
natural fertility, low capacity for retention of water and
nutrients, and high acidity, which are related to textural
characteristics and low organic matter content (Wolf 1975,
Lopes 1989). According to Datalto (1982), decrease of
organic matter content from Oxisols and Entisols, typi-
cal soils from the cerrado is due to fast organic matter
mineralization, which reduces the soil fertility level and
consequently its capacity for production.
Application of organic matter, as industrial residues,
can maintain or increase the soil organic matter con-
tent, dependent on the frequency, quantity, and quality
of the organic residues. A single application may have
little or no effect on organic matter and effects on soil
fertility can disappear after 2 or 3 years under tropical
conditions (Guerrini and Moro 1994). Under temperate
conditions, Zibilske and Clapham (1990) obtained an
increase of 5-8% in soil organic matter content after
annual application of 134 t ha-1 of pulp and paper sludge
during four consecutive years. Therefore, repetitive use
of organic materials can take soil fertility to an equilib-
rium level, which also depends on type of soil and cli-
mate.
The objectives of this paper are to evaluate the effects
of annual application of two industrial residues from
pulp and paper mills on some characteristics of three
different tropical soils and on the mineral nutrition and
growth of Eucalyptus grandis.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The same experiment was done with three different
types of soil under cerrado, in areas of southeastern Bra-
zil used for reforestation and belonging to Champion
Papel e Celulose Ltda. The soils used were an Oxisol (a
red-yellow Latosol) from Mogi Guaçu (22°23’S; mean
annual temperature, 19°C; annual precipitation, 1,400
mm; water deficit, 0), a sandy Oxisol from Aguaí (22°04’S;
mean annual temperature, 19.5°C; annual precipitation,
1,391 mm; water deficit, 23 mm) and an Entisol (a
Quartzpsamment) from São Simão (21°32’S; mean an-
nual temperature, 23.2°C; annual precipitation, 1,417
mm; water deficit, 101 mm ). Chemical and physical
analyses of these soils are presented on Table 1. The

Wood Ash and Pulp and Paper Sludge Applications 127

 Table 1. Chemical and physical characteristics of soils used in the experiment (OM, organic matter;
CEC, cation exchange capacity).

pH OM P K Ca Mg CEC Sand Silt Clay

 
(Ca Cl2) (g kg-1) (mg kg-1) -3
(mmolc dm ) %
Oxisol 4.0 27 3 0.3 2 1 56 61 7 32
Sandy Oxisol 3.8 24 4 0.9 1 1 61 73 5 22
Entisol 3.6 14 6 0.3 1 1 32 94 2 4

temperature in São Simão is higher and this characteris- The treatments tested were chemical fertilizer, applied
tic associated with the sandy soil results in a very high at 250 kg ha-1 of 10-20-10 in a semicircle at planting
water deficit. These soils are similar in fertility but not in (FP) + 150 kg ha-1 of the same fertilizer 1 year after
physical characteristics, which directly influence the pro- planting, rides; FP + wood ash (WA) + decomposed
ductivity of Eucalyptus plantations (the more clay, the sludge (DS) applied at planting; FP + WA + DS applied
higher the productivity). at 1 year old; FP + WA + DS applied at planting and at
Two types of industrial residues from pulp and paper 1 year old; FP + WA + DS applied at planting, and at 1
mills (Champion Papel e Celulose Ltda.) were used in and 2 years old; FP + WA + DS applied at planting, and
this experiment: wood ash (10 t ha-1) and decomposed at 1, 2, and 3 years old. Each plot contained 49 E.
sludge (10 t ha-1); their chemical characteristics are pre- grandis, planted in spacing of 3.0×1.5 m in Oxisol and
sented on Table 2. Wood ash, containing ash and little sandy Oxisol and 3.0×2.0 m in Entisol (a company strat-
pieces of charcoal (why the organic matter content is egy to reduce competition for nutrients in poor sites),
high), is generated from the boilers where companies but only 25 central plants were measured and sampled.
use fine wood and bark to produce energy for the pro- The statistical analysis was randomized blocks with 4
duction process. Decomposed sludge is the product sepa- blocks and 5 treatments. Growing analyses were made
rated by decantation from effluent treatment and decom- for height, diameter breast height (DBH), and volume
posed in a natural process in the field where the mate- at age 3 years for all sites (without the final treatment)
rial remains for 2 or 3 years. In these conditions, there and at 5 years old only for the Mogi Guaçu region
are many species of plants growing above this material, (Oxisol); the other two plantations died after a freeze
as well as a great quantity of earthworms. Base content is followed by a severe drought in 1994. For those two
similar for both residues (K, Ca, and Mg), but decom- cases, a failure survey was done. Soil samples for chemi-
posed sludge is richer in N and P, so mixing of both is cal analyses were taken in the line of planting where
important in improving the quality of the application as the residues were concentrated and fertilizer was local-
a fertilizer. These materials were applied separately to ized, and chemical analyses were done according to Raij
the total area before site preparation (Figure 1). (1987). Soil bulk density was analyzed for the three soils
when the plantations were 2 years old, and samples
Table 2. Chemical analysis of the residues.
Wood ash Decomposed sludge
pH (Ca Cl2) 8.8 7.0
Org. matter (g kg-1) 215.0 400.0
N (g kg-1) 1.5 15.0
P2O5 (g kg-1) 2.6 15.0
K2O (g kg-1) 5.4 3.0
CaO (g kg-1) 25.6 23.0
MgO (g kg-1) 2.7 3.0
S (g kg-1) 0.05 6.0
B (mg kg-1) 51.0 27.0
Cu (mg kg-1) 50.0 54.0
Fe (mg kg-1) 1,725.0 12,000.0
Mn (mg kg-1) 3,125.0 200.0
Zn (mg kg-1) 46.0 200.0
Na (mg kg-1) - 2,000.0
Mo (mg kg-1) - 24.0
Co (mg kg-1) - 8.0
C:N (org.C and TN) 30:1 14:1 Figure 1. Fertilization applied in different treatments.

128 Guerrini et al.

were taken between the rows by volumetric rings. Foli- Table 3. Chemical analyses of the soils 3 years after planting.
age was chemically analyzed at age 2 years following Treatments* pH OM P K Ca

Mg B Zn

Mn

Malavolta et al. (1989). (CaCl2) -1

(g kg ) (mg kg ) -1 -3
(mmolc cm ) (mg dm )-3

Oxisol
1 3.7 38 10 0.9 2 1 1.0 0.8 3.0
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 2 3.9 36 7 0.6 5 1 1.0 1.0 3.5

Higher values of soil organic matter in all treatments for 3 4.5 34 12 0.8 23 3 1.1 2.2 13.9

the three soils (Table 3) compared with the values ob- 4 4.2 35 15 0.6 18 3 1.1 1.6 15.3

tained before the experiments (Table 1) are the result of 5 4.6 36 13 0.6 22 3 0.9 1.9 13.2
site preparation which used a bedding plow to gather all Sandy Oxisol
the residues on the line of planting (locale of sampling); 1 3.8 31 12 0.8 2 1 0.6 0.7 2.3
2 3.9 29 6 0.9 6 2 0.5 0.6 4.6
this material remained on the field at the time of harvest-
ing. This technique was very efficient in concentrating the 3 4.3 27 8 0.8 15 2 0.5 1.5 5.4

organic matter near the seedlings, which is important for 4 4.7 26 12 0.9 31 4 0.4 1.6 6.7

Eucalyptus plantations that are located in poor soils. After 1 5 5.4 28 17 0.9 56 5 0.7 2.0 6.2
year of growth (data not shown), the soil organic matter Entisol
content of the chemical fertilizer treatment was 49, 41, and 1 3.9 21 10 0.5 1 0 0.3 0.7 1.9
2 4.0 20 6 0.4 2 1 0.3 0.6 2.2
26 g kg-1 for Oxisol, sandy Oxisol, and Entisol, respectively.
Even after 3 years, the values were high (Table 3). In Entisol, 3 4.2 21 7 0.3 7 1 0.2 1.2 2.6

for instance, the increment in soil organic matter was 50%, 4 4.3 22 9 0.3 8 2 0.2 1.1 2.5

without any application of industrial residues. However,
the frequency of application of these materials (at plant-
ing, 1st and 2nd year) did not increase soil organic matter
content, showing that the amount applied was not suffi-
cient to do so; decomposition speed is very high in such
conditions. Comparing the soils, organic matter was higher
for Oxisols—soil with more potential for forest production.
Results of soil bulk density did not show differences be-
tween treatments in the three soils and are not shown
here.
Application of the residues resulted in significant (p =
0.01) increases in values for pH, Ca, Mg, Zn, and Mn for
these three soils (Table3). Kraske et al. (1990), Guerrini
et al. (1994), Gonçalves and Moro (1995), and Kahal et
al. (1996) obtained similar results. Applications made
only at planting did not show differences in soil fertility
when compared to controls (except for Ca and Mn val-
ues) after 3 years, in agreement with the results of
Guerrini and Moro (1994). According to them, soil fer-
tility and mineral nutrition are improved for only a short
time under tropical conditions; nutrients supplied by
these materials are taken up by the trees and show gains
in growth relative to chemical fertilizer; nutrients not
taken up are lost mainly by leaching through the sandy
soils used in forest plantations. The high values for Ca,
not followed by those for K, caused an inbalance in the
K:Ca ratio in these three soils, resulting in a strong K
deficiency in Eucalyptus leaves after the 2nd year and
showing the need for a complementary fertilizer appli-
cation of K.
Chemical analyses of E. grandis foliage (Table 4) show
that increasing the frequency of application of residues
5 5.1 21 11 0.3 18 4 0.3 0.9 2.7
* 1—Chemical fertilizer (250 kg ha ) at time of planting +
-1
150 kg ha-1 of the same fertilizer 1 year later; 2—Chemical
fertilizer + wood ash + decomposed sludge applied at time of
planting; 3—as treatment 2 but applied 1 year later; 4—as treat-
ment 3 but applied at planting and 1 year later; 5—as treat-
ment 4 but applied at planting and at 1 and 2 years later.
in comparison with fertilizer application resulted in a
significant (p = 0.01) improvement in uptake of P, Ca,
and Mg by trees in the two Oxisols and in N, P, K, and
Ca in Entisol, as well as a reduction in Mn and Zn
uptake in all three soils, due to an increase in pH soil
values. These improvements in mineral nutrition, also
verified by Guerrini and Moro (1994) and Guerrini et
al. (1997), are important, especially in Entisol where
there is a high water deficit. Although the K content in
soils was not influenced by residue application, its con-
tent in the foliage increased with frequency of applica-
tion. However, this was not sufficient to avoid deficiency
symptoms in foliage. Oxisols again show a higher po-
tential for forest production because the trees take up
much more N, P, S, B, and Zn in these soils in all treat-
ments compared to Entisol.
Comparison in tree height at 3 years of age for all
treatments of each soil made (Figure 2) show the great
difference in potential for forest production between the
soils evaluated. Mean tree height of the stand in Oxisol
and sandy Oxisol were 24 and 15% higher than in
Entisol. These differences become more evident when
volumes are compared (Figure 3).

Wood Ash and Pulp and Paper Sludge Applications 129

Table 4. Foliage chemical analyses 2 years after planting. Sol.Vol.
3 -1 180
(m ha )
160
Treatments* N P K Ca Mg S B Cu Fe Mn Zn
  140
(g kg-1) (mg kg-1) 120
Oxisol 100
1 24.3 1.9 6.4 6.0 2.1 1.7 35 8 53 490 31 80
2 23.0 1.8 6.0 7.9 2.4 1.6 36 8 49 383 23 60
40
3 25.8 2.0 7.1 7.2 2.2 1.7 33 9 56 279 28
20
4 26.4 2.1 8.7 6.7 2.3 1.7 32 9 52 227 28 0
1 2 3 4 5 Treatments
5 25.3 2.0 8.2 7.5 2.4 1.8 31 9 50 214 24 Oxisol Sandy Oxisol Entisol

Sandy Oxisol
1 25.1 1.9 7.5 5.0 2.0 1.6 13 9 49 544 21 Figure 3. Average solid volume of 3-year-old E. grandis in
2 25.8 2.0 7.7 6.5 2.3 1.6 15 7 46 296 18 three different types of soil. (Treatments explained in footnote
3 26.6 2.2 7.8 5.8 2.2 1.7 13 8 43 236 21
to Table 3.)

4 25.5 2.0 9.2 5.7 2.2 1.5 13 8 43 169 18

were more productive than those receiving chemical fer-
5 25.0 2.1 9.1 6.2 2.3 1.5 14 6 44 178 17
tilizer alone. When applied only once, applications at
Entisol planting were better than those at 1 year old. For in-
1 17.7 1.4 5.1 5.9 2.6 1.3 16 8 43 296 25
2 19.5 1.7 7.1 7.0 2.9 1.3 18 8 46 204 20
stance, treatments that received residues at planting and
at 1 year old, respectively, showed gains of 44 and 33%
3 19.8 1.7 7.8 6.4 2.7 1.4 17 8 49 196 20
in Entisol, 26 and 13% in sandy Oxisol, and 25% for
4 21.1 1.7 8.2 6.5 2.6 1.4 16 8 49 148 20 both in Oxisol, compared to chemical fertilizer alone.
5 20.1 2.2 8.5 6.8 2.6 1.3 17 6 47 142 20 Thus, response in Entisol was much better than in ei-
ther Oxisol, showing a correlation with soil clay con-
* Same as Table 3
tent. At this age, volume production for both treatments
with frequency of application (treatments 4 and 5) were
Positive effects of residue applications are also evident
similar in each soil. However, gains with these treat-
in growth analysis. Tree height after treatment with wood
ments ranged 38-64% relative to chemical fertilizer alone.
ash plus decomposed sludge applied at planting and
Volume curves between the 2nd and 5th years for trees
year 1 for Entisol reached almost the same height in the
grown in Oxisol (Figure 4) clearly show increasing gains
treatment with chemical fertilizer in the sandy Oxisol as
in volume year by year with different treatments. Effects
for sandy Oxisol in relation to Oxisol (Figure 2). This
of residue applications increased with age and were
shows the potential of applying the two residues together,
statistically different (p = 0.01) relative to chemical fertil-
probably because the gradual release of nutrients avoids
izer alone, becoming more evident by 5 years old, when
leaching and others losses. Differences among treatments
gains ranged 31-75%. Repetitive applications (treatments
were significant only for Oxisol and Entisol.
2, 3, or 4) produced similar volumes and were 29%, on
Concerning volumetric production, results at 3 years
old (Figure 3) show that all treatments receiving residues

H (m) 20 Sol.Vol.
3 -1 300
(m ha )
18
16 250

14
200
12
10 150
8
6 100

4
50
2
0 0
Treatments
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 Treatments
Oxisol Sandy Oxisol Entisol 2 3 4 5 years

Figure 2. Average height of 3-year-old E. grandis in three Figure 4. Average solid volume curve of 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-year
different types of soil. (Treatments explained in footnote to old E. grandis in Oxisol. (Treatments explained in footnote to
Table 3.) Table 3.)

130 Guerrini et al.

 average, higher than volumes produced by only one ap-
plication.
CONCLUSIONS
Frequency of application of industrial residues did not
increase soil organic matter content. However, this soil
characteristic was improved by a bedding plow technique
used in site preparation. Residue applications improved
soil fertility, mineral nutrition, and increased volume
production of E. grandis planted in the three soils (range
38-64%) relative to chemical fertilizer alone. In Oxisol,
this increment reached 75% at 5 years old. Two con-
secutive applications, at planting and at 1 year old, proved
one of the best and perhaps more economical treatments
in this study and can be recommended for similar con-
ditions. Attention should be given to the K:Ca ratio to
avoid deficiency symptoms in foliage and the consequent
decrease in productivity of plantation forests.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research had financial support from Champion
Papel e Celulose Ltda., the Research and Scientific De-
velopment National Council (CNPq), and the Founda-
tion to Support Research of São Paulo State (FAPESP),
which we thank.
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