title: Mineralization dynamics in soil fertilized with seaweed-fish waste compost.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Seaweed and fish waste can be composted together to obtain fertilizer with high organic matter and nutrient contents. The nutrients, however, are mostly in organic form and must be mineralized to make them available to plants. The objective of this work was to establish a usage guideline for the compost by studying its mineralization dynamics. Also, the release of inorganic N and C from soil fertilized with the compost was monitored and modelled.
  
  
  RESULTS
  C and N were released throughout the assay, to an extent significantly dependent on fertilizer rate. Mineralization of both elements fitted a first-order exponential model, and each fertilizer rate required using a specific fitting model. An increased rate favoured mineralization (especially of carbon). After 90 days, 2.3% of C and 7.7% of N were mineralized (and 23.3% of total nitrogen made plant available) with the higher rate.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  C mineralization was slow because organic matter in the compost was very stable. On the other hand, the relatively high initial content in mineral N of the compost increased gradually by the effect of mineralization. The amount of N available would suffice to meet the requirements of moderately demanding crops at the lower fertilizer rate, and even those of more demanding crops at the higher rate.
authors: Instituto de Biodiversidad Agraria y Desarrollo Rural (IBADER), University of Santiago de Compostela, 27002, Lugo, Spain.
authors: Marta
authors: M
authors: Illera-Vives
authors: Escuela Politécnica Superior, University of Santiago de Compostela, 27002, Lugo, Spain.
authors: Adolfo
authors: A
authors: López-Fabal
authors: Instituto de Biodiversidad Agraria y Desarrollo Rural (IBADER), University of Santiago de Compostela, 27002, Lugo, Spain.
authors: M Elvira
authors: ME
authors: López-Mosquera
authors: UIQA, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, TU Lisbon, 1349-017, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors: Henrique M
authors: HM
authors: Ribeiro
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D018556:Crops, Agricultural; D005308:Fertilizers; D005399:Fishes; D008903:Minerals; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000737:chemistry*; D012037:Refuse Disposal; D012624:Seaweed; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D005308:Fertilizers; D008903:Minerals; D012987:Soil; D002244:Carbon; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: algae; carbon; mineralization kinetics; modelling; nitrogen; organic matter