Analysis of total inositol phosphates in municipal solid waste compost-treated soils by two extraction methods

 Humic substances are the most dynamic component of agricultural soils. In this study, humic substances were extracted from soils based on standard acid/base solubility and by gel filtration using Sephadex G25. Organic P is a component of humic substances, and inositol phosphates are considered to have high prominence in organic P. The objectives of the study were to determine the effects of municipal solid waste (MSW) compost on the amount of inositol phosphates (IP) present in soils, and compare methods of extracting humic substances from soils. Total IP (IP_T) in soil extracts was determined following separation using a AG-1× 8 anion exchange resin, acid digestion and ICAP analysis for P. The percentage of IP (%IP) of the total P in the soil was also determined by colorimetric analysis. The soils were part of an experiment to study the effects of three rates of MSW compost and fertilizers on three crops grown in a Pugwash sandy loam (Humo-Ferric Podzol). The data were compared using ANOVA atP≤0.05; extraction methods, fractions humic/fulvic, high/low molecular (MW)], and five treatments (three different rates of compost, fertilizer, and untreated soil) were compared. The gel filtration method extracted significantly more IP_T and %IP than the solubility method. In the solubility method, humic and fulvic acids contained the same amounts of IP_T and %IP, while the high MW fraction always contained more IP_T and %IP than the low MW fraction in the gel filtration method. Fulvic acids and the low MW fraction contained similar amounts of IP_T and %IP. There were differences in %IP between compost-treated soils and the non-compost-treated soils, although there were no differences in IP_T due to rate of compost addition. Received: 20 October 1999