1. Biological weathering of phlogopite during enriched vermicomposting
- Author
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Hossein Khademi, Ángel Faz Cano, Farhad Khormali, Fariba Jafari, Jose A. Acosta, and Vajihe Shahrokh
- Subjects
chemistry.chemical_classification ,biology ,Earthworm ,Soil Science ,Weathering ,04 agricultural and veterinary sciences ,010501 environmental sciences ,Vermiculite ,engineering.material ,biology.organism_classification ,01 natural sciences ,chemistry ,Environmental chemistry ,040103 agronomy & agriculture ,engineering ,0401 agriculture, forestry, and fisheries ,Phlogopite ,Organic matter ,Clay minerals ,Cow dung ,Vermicompost ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences - Abstract
As the dominant macrofauna in many soils, earthworms play a significant role in mineral weathering and nutrient release from mineral structures into available forms for root uptake. Phlogopite is a trioctahedral micaceous mineral that can be weathered to other minerals through release of its interlayer potassium (K). In this study, we investigated the effect of earthworm activities and associated microbial communities on phlogopite weathering during the production of phlogopite-enriched vermicompost with different quantities of phlogopite added. An experiment was run under laboratory conditions using three levels of phlogopite (0, 20% and 40% by weight) in triplicates. Each Petri dish contained 20 g of a mixture of cow manure and phlogopite, and vermicomposting process was performed by inoculation of eight Eisenia foetida earthworms. Changes in clay mineralogy and C/N ratio in each dish were assessed at days 0, 45, 90, 135, and 180 during vermicomposting. The results indicated that phlogopite was partially weathered to vermiculite and interstratified mica-vermiculite during the vermicomposting process. The rate of weathering was higher during the early stages of vermicomposting (the first 90 d). The weathering of phlogopite was influenced considerably by the activity of earthworms and associated microbial communities during the organic matter transformation process. At the early stages of the process, the weathering rate for different levels of phlogopite was not significantly different, but over time it accelerated steadily, and the difference increased.
- Published
- 2021
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