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This study investigated the long-term effects of different composts (urban organic waste compost (OWC), green waste compost (GWC), cattle manure compost (MC) and sewage sludge compost (SSC)) compared to mineral fertilisation on a loamy silt Cambisol, after a 7-year start-up period. The compost application rate was 175 kg N ha−1, with 80 kg mineral N ha−1 and without. Soil characteristics (soil organic carbon (SOC), carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio and soil pH), nutrients (nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and potassium (K)) and crop yields were investigated between 1998 and 2012. SOC concentrations were increased by compost applications, being highest in the SSC treatments, as for soil pH. N contents were significantly higher with compost amendments compared to mineral fertilisation. The highest calcium-acetate-lactate (CAL)-extractable P concentrations were measured in the SSC treatments, and the highest CAL-extractable K concentrations in the MC treatments. Yields after compost amendment for winter ba...

The Long-term Fertilisation Experiment was established in 1986 near Vienna with a three-year crop rotation (sugar beet-winter wheat-winter barley). The most distinct yield effects of organic fertilisation occurred with missing and low mineral N fertilisation. In the treatment without mineral N fertilisation, significantly higher sugar yields (+2.52 t ha−1) were obtained with the application of farmyard manure (FYM) compared to the control. Without mineral N fertilisation significant winter wheat increases through after effects of FYM and slurry application (+0.74 and 0.55 t ha−1) appeared. N surpluses in the variant with incorporating crop residues could be reduced by the omission of mineral N fertilisation with the incorporation of the straw. The highest mean P balances occurred with the application of FYM and slurry, the highest K surpluses were detected in the treatments where crop residues (especially K rich sugar beet leaves) remained on the field. The N, P and K balances correlated significantly (p ...