Behaviour of enzymatic activities and root elongation in Argiudoll soils from the Argentine Humid Pampa treated with biosolids.

The incorporation of biosolids to soil is a strategy aiming at the re-location of these materials in the environment with a useful end: soil fertilization. In this work, the response of two Argiudoll soils (one with more than 100 years of agriculture and the other, a virgin one) to biosolid incorporation was studied under laboratory conditions. To measure this response, soil enzymatic biodescriptors, such as dehydrogenase and urease activities, and tests related to plant physiology (the root elongation test) were employed. The addition of the biosolid to both soils had a stimulating effect though different on each soil according to the added dose. Adjustment of the regression line for dehydrogenase activity with root elongation was positive and statistically significant (p<0.001). Results suggest that biodescriptors employed were suitable for studying the impact of amended biosolids on different soils.