SOIL AND PLANT RESPONSES TO LIPID-EXTRACTED ALGAE A Dissertation by KATIE ...

187 Pages·2014·2.48 MB·English

SOIL AND PLANT RESPONSES TO LIPID-EXTRACTED ALGAE

A Dissertation
by
KATIE ROTHLISBERGER LEWIS

Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of
Texas A&M University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Chair of Committee, Jamie L. Foster
Co-Chair of Committee, Frank M. Hons
Committee Members, Terry J. Gentry
Thomas W. Boutton
Head of Department, David Baltensperger

December 2014

Major Subject: Soil Science

Copyright 2014 Katie Rothlisberger Lewis
ABSTRACT

Although algae is much more productive per area of cultivation compared to
first-generation biofuel feedstocks, algae production may not be economically
sustainable without high value coproducts. One of many possible coproducts may be
algae residue following lipid extraction that might be used as a soil amendment for
agricultural production.
The overall objective of this series of experiments was to determine the
feasibility and management strategies required to best utilize lipid-extracted algae (LEA)
as an organic fertilizer and soil conditioner. Effects of LEA on nutrient availability, soil
C storage, aggregate stability, soil acidity and salinity, greenhouse gas (GHG) loss,
changes in soil microbial activity and community composition, and forage growth were
assessed.
Soil organic C (SOC) measured 392-d after amending soil with 1.5 and 3.0%
LEA for a microcosm incubation was increased by approximately 0.2 and 0.3% OC,
respectively, compared to the control. Approximately 10% of added LEA-C was
mineralized and lost as CO compared with 15% of added wheat straw-C. Lipid-
2
extracted algae enhanced aggregate formation and soil SOC storage in microaggregates
at 0-15 cm depth over a12-month field incubation with greater mean weight diameter by
12 months and approximately 42 and 66% of total SOC from 1.5 and 3.0% LEA
treatments, respectively.
ii
With glass house and field studies, nutrient availability was enhanced with LEA
amendments; however, LEA applied at a 3.0% rate decreased seedling emergence of
foxtail millet (Setaria italica) and salt-tolerant ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum), and thus,
herbage mass (HM) and nutrient uptake were also decreased. Soil amended with 1.5%
LEA, however, increased HM of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), salt-tolerant
ryegrass, and a sorghum-sudangrass hybrid [(Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench× Sorghum
sudanese (P.)].
Soil LEA-application should be a significant source of organic nutrients for
microbial transformation and usage and plant uptake, and thus, may reduce inputs of
inorganic fertilizer. The potential for LEA amendments enhancing aggregate formation,
and consequently soil C storage, was indicated by mean weight diameter and SOC
within macro- and microaggregates increasing over time. Lipid-extracted algae
application may be a means of mitigating SOC losses due to agricultural production, and
also, maintaining or improving soil structure and quality. However, problems with
excess soil salinity, sodicity, and nutrients may occur at high LEA addition rates.
iii
DEDICATION

My husband is my love and my best friend and I dedicate this to him. He has not
only been my support but also my inspiration. He was so often the encouragement and
logic I needed to stay focused and determined. I am so thankful our paths crossed.

iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my committee chairs, Dr. Foster and Dr. Hons, and my
committee members, Dr. Gentry and Dr. Boutton, for their constant guidance and
support throughout the course of this research. They have all been tremendously
influential in moulding me into the scientist I have become and desire to be. I feel
blessed to have had on my committee such outstanding scientists with admirable
personal values.
While Dr. Hons has been a remarkable academic advisor, he has also been a
superior role model and mentor in my personal life; he has given me “roots and wings”.
Over the past five-years, the Hons family has become my family away from home, and I
will be eternally grateful. Dr. Foster has been encouraging and supportive when times
were hectic, and she always went out of her way to help in any way possible. I am
honored to have been one of her first graduate students. Dr. Gentry has encouraged me
to realize and set future goals by forcing me to consider how my current decisions would
impact the future. Whether it was through classroom discussion or one-on-one
conversation, Dr. Boutton has influenced and expanded my knowledge and thoughts
beyond agriculture and towards ecosystem sciences.
I greatly appreciate the assistance and patience provided to me by the Stable
Isotopes for Biosphere Science (SIBS) lab at Texas A&M University, and especially Dr.
Ayumi Hyodo. I also want to extend my gratitude to the National Alliance of Advanced
v
Biofuels and Bioproducts, which provided funding for this research, and to the Tom
Slick Fellowship for funding my last year of study.
Thanks also go to my family, friends, and colleagues and the departmental
faculty and staff for making my time at Texas A&M University a great experience. I
have made so many life-long friends over the course of my graduate degree and I would
like to thank each of them (Christina Barrera, Ethan Diver, Patrick Allen, Dustin Kelley,
Murilo and Andrea Maeda, Landon Crotwell, Henrique Carvalho, and Gustavo and
Giovana Telo) for being amazing friends. Finally, thanks to my mother and father for
their praise and love and to my husband for his patience and love.
vi
NOMENCLATURE

DAP Days after planting
DM Dry matter
EC Electrical conductivity
GHG Greenhouse gas
HM Herbage mass
LEA Lipid extracted algae
MWD Mean weight diameter
OM Organic matter
SMBC Soil microbial biomass carbon
SOC Soil organic carbon
SOM Soil organic matter
WS Wheat straw

vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ ii
DEDICATION ................................................................................................................... iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ v
NOMENCLATURE .......................................................................................................... vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................. viii
LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ xi
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ xv
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................... 1
Literature Review ............................................................................................................ 3
Next Generation Algae Feedstocks ............................................................................. 3
Organic Wastes to Resources ...................................................................................... 8
Soil Organic Matter and Carbon Cycling Dynamics ................................................... 9
Nutrient Availability .................................................................................................. 13
Research Objectives ...................................................................................................... 14
CHAPTER II SOIL CARBON AND NITROGEN DYNAMICS AS AFFECTED BY
LIPID-EXTRACTED ALGAE APPLICATION TO SOIL .............................................. 16
Introduction ................................................................................................................... 16
Methods ......................................................................................................................... 18
Study Area ................................................................................................................. 18
Soil and Lipid-Extracted Algae Characterization ..................................................... 19
Lipid Extracted Algae and Wheat Straw Fiber Analysis .......................................... 19
Aerobic Incubation .................................................................................................... 20
Soil Microbial Biomass ............................................................................................. 21
Statistical Analyses .................................................................................................... 22
Results ........................................................................................................................... 23
Soil and Lipid Extracted Algae Characterization ...................................................... 23

viii
Page

Carbon Dynamics ...................................................................................................... 26
Nitrogen Concentrations and Dynamics .................................................................... 31
Discussion ..................................................................................................................... 38
CHAPTER III SALINITY ASSOCIATED EFFECTS OF LIPID-EXTRACTED
ALGAE RESIDUE ON A RANGE OF SALT TOLERANT FORAGES ........................ 40
Introduction ................................................................................................................... 40
Methods ......................................................................................................................... 42
Statistical Analyses .................................................................................................... 44
Results ........................................................................................................................... 44
Forage Seedling Emergence, Herbage Mass, and Nutrient Uptake .......................... 44
Discussion ..................................................................................................................... 72
Forage Seedling Emergence, Herbage Mass, and Nutrient Uptake .......................... 72
Soil Dynamics ........................................................................................................... 74
CHAPTER IV NUTRIENT AVAILABILITY, GREENHOUSE GAS FLUXES,
AND SALT TOLERANT RYEGRASS PRODUCTIVITY AS AFFECTED BY
LIPID-EXTRACTED ALGAE SOIL APPLICATION .................................................... 76
Introduction ................................................................................................................... 76
Methods ......................................................................................................................... 78
Experiment I .............................................................................................................. 79
Experiment II ............................................................................................................. 80
Statistical Analyses .................................................................................................... 81
Results ........................................................................................................................... 82
Experiment I .............................................................................................................. 82
Experiment II ............................................................................................................. 98
Discussion ................................................................................................................... 104
Experiment I ............................................................................................................ 104
Experiment II ........................................................................................................... 108
CHAPTER V EFFECTS OF LIPID-EXTRACTED ALGAE ON SOIL
PHYSICOCHEMICAL DYNAMICS AND RYEGRASS GROWTH IN THE
FIELD .............................................................................................................................. 111
Introduction ................................................................................................................. 111
Methods ....................................................................................................................... 115
Study Area ............................................................................................................... 115

ix
Page

Treatment Preparation ............................................................................................. 115
Soil Sampling and Analyses .................................................................................... 116
Ryegrass Planting and Harvesting ........................................................................... 119
Statistical Analyses .................................................................................................. 119
Results ......................................................................................................................... 120
Soil pH and Electrical Conductivity ........................................................................ 120
Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics .............................................................................. 123
Ryegrass Growth and Nutrient Availability and Uptake ......................................... 147
Discussion ................................................................................................................... 151
Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics .............................................................................. 151
CHAPTER VI CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................... 158
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................ 161

x