Sewage sludges contain high levels of organic N. If these residues are applied in excess to soils, there is the risk of polluting the groundwater with nitrate, a product of N mineralization. For this reason, one of the criteria underlying the determination of the maximum N application rate to soils is the crop available N. This paper presents the results of a 224 day laboratory leaching study on organic N mineralization of anaerobically-digested sewage sludges from two treatment plants, namely Franca (urban sludge) and Barueri (urban-industrial sludge), both located in São Paulo State, Brazil. The sewage sludges were applied to 0-0.20 m Latosol (Oxisol) samples at four rates, containing 0.13, 0.3, 0.5 and 1.0 g kg-1 of organic N; these treatments were equivalent to the soil application of 5, 11, 22 and 43 t ha-1 of Franca sewage sludge and to 8, 15, 31 and 61 t ha-1 of Barueri sewage sludge. The soil samples with treatments were incubated in percolation tubes at temperatures between 25 and 28 °C. The tubes were periodically leached (12 times) with 0.01 mol L-1 KCl, and N-NH4+ and N-(NO3- + NO2-) were determined in the leachates. During the incubation, there was a significant correlation between the rate of organic N applied as sludges and the net inorganic N accumulation in the leachates, for both sludges. The potential N mineralization estimated by the single exponential model for the soil without sludge was 73 mg kg-1 of N, and increased from 107 to 224 mg kg-1 and from 132 to 364 mg kg-1 in the Franca and Barueri-treated soils, respectively. The potential mineralization fraction of organic N in the residues decreased with increasing rates: 26, 25, 21 and 14 % for the Franca, and 43, 39, 34 and 27 % for Barueri sewage sludge. Thus, the potential for N leaching in the studied Oxisol increased from 46 to 207 % when increasing doses of Franca sewage sludge were applied, and from 81 to 399 % under increasing doses of Barueri sludge.
nitrate; ammonium; agricultural recycling; urban residues; potential N mineralization; organic fertilization
