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Long-term agricultural reclamation on the chemical properties of Technosols at lignite postmining site – efficiency of winter wheat and winter rape
Changes in Physical and Water Retention Properties of Technosols by Agricultural Reclamation with Wheat–Rapeseed Rotation in a Post-Mining Area of Central Poland
During opencast lignite mining, the natural landscape is damaged, along with soils, and new anthropogenic landforms are created which require reclamation. Usually, the evaluation of the effects of reclamation (mostly forestry) is concerned with changes in chemical properties in the first years, mainly in the surface horizon. This study analyzed the effect of long-term agricultural reclamation (43 years) on the physical and water retention properties of Technosols. The experiment involved cultivation of winter wheat and winter oilseed rape under 3 fertilization variants. After 43 years, an Ap horizon (Ap1 and Ap2) developed in fertilized Technosols, but was not clearly formed in unfertilized minesoil. In Ap1, there was improvement in the physical quality (S), bulk density (BD), particle density (PD), structural stability index (SI), soil porosity (SP), air-filled porosity (AFP), field capacity (FC) and plant available water capacity (PAWC). In Ap2, properties were comparable to those in the surface horizon of unfertilized Technosols and to those observed before reclamation. Regardless of fertilization, there was deterioration in physical quality in parent materials. In general, the properties of fertilized Technosols have improved in the surface horizons, but increasing fertilization above plant requirements does not lead to their further enhancement.
The Impact of the Method of Reclamation of the Coal Ash Dump from the “Adamów” Power Plant on the Survival, Viability, and Wood Quality of the Introduced Tree Species
The aim of this research was to determine the survival rate, dimensions, and wood quality of black locust, ash-leaf maple, common maple, and American ash introduced to the landfill of the “Adamów” Power Plant as part of the reclamation process. The experimental area consisted of 13 research plots. On the three plots where the trees were planted directly into the ash, the trees completely collapsed. As a result of this research, it was found that the black locust had the best survival rates, whereas the American ash had the worst. The black locust and ash-leaf maple reached larger sizes on the plots where the ashes were covered with a 50-centimetre layer of sewage sludge (S50) or with a 50-centimetre layer of clay (C50), while the common maple grew the largest on the plots where a 25-centimetre layer of sewage sludge (S25) was used. Our research shows that about 40% of the examined species of wood were of good quality (Q1, Q2), which in the future will make it possible to obtain sawmill raw material. On the other hand, lower quality wood (Q3, Q4), which accounted for over 50% of the assessed wood material, can be successfully used as a biomass for energy purposes.