Abstract
Vinasse is the waste liquid of molasses fermentation for alcohol production from sugarcane mills. The adequate utilization and treatment for vinasse have received increasing attention. Among the alternatives considered for the reuse of vinasse, irrigation in sugarcane fields is most common solution. However, few researchers consider the impact on the soil fertility, soil heavy metals content and soil microbial diversity by long-term application of vinasse in the fields. In order to evaluate the cumulative impact arising from the long-term application of vinasse, different treatments, viz., (1) soils not irrigated with vinasse, (2) soil irrigated with vinasse for 2 years, (3) soil irrigated with vinasse for 7 years, (4) soil irrigated with vinasse for 13 years, (5) soil irrigated with vinasse for 18 years, have been applied to sugarcane fields in Shangsi County, Guangxi, China. The pH, organic matter, total and available N, P, K, the concentration of Cu, Pb, Cr, Zn, Ni, Cd and As, as well as the diversity of microbial community of the soil samples were determined. The results showed that after long-term irrigation by vinasse, soil acidification was observed, organic matter, N and K content increased, but no significant changes in the increase in P content were observed. The potential ecological risk of Cd, Cr, Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni and As was low, indicating that accumulation of heavy metals in the soil was negligible when long-term irrigation with vinasse was practiced. The diversity of microbial community expressed as relative abundance of the predominant species in irrigated soil was slightly reduced due to influence by the physicochemical properties of soil, especially soil pH. Consequently, the proper management of vinasse irrigation and periodic monitoring of soil quality parameters are required to ensure safe and long-term irrigation.
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs12355-018-0630-2/MediaObjects/12355_2018_630_Fig1_HTML.png)
Note: Means followed by the same letter (a, b, c…) in the same line are not significantly different according to the Student–Newman–Keuls test at P < 0.05
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs12355-018-0630-2/MediaObjects/12355_2018_630_Fig2_HTML.png)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs12355-018-0630-2/MediaObjects/12355_2018_630_Fig3_HTML.png)
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abarenkov, K., R.H. Nilsson, K.H. Larsson, I.J. Alexander, U. Eberhardt, S. Erland, K. Høiland, R. Kjøller, E. Larsson, T. Pennanen, R. Sen, A.F.S. Taylor, L. Tedersoo, B.M. Ursing, T. Vrålstad, K. Liimatainen, U. Peintner, and U. Kõljalg. 2010. The UNITE database for molecular identification of fungi—Recent updates and future perspectives. New Phytologist 186(2): 281–285.
Ahn, J.H., J. Song, B.Y. Kim, M.S. Kim, J.H. Joa, and H.Y. Weon. 2012. Characterization of the bacterial and archaeal communities in rice field soils subjected to long-term fertilization practices. Journal of Microbiology 50(5): 754–765.
Ao, J.H., H.H. Deng, Q.W. Li, and Z.R. Huang. 2009. Effects of vinasse on the properties of soil. Journal of Guangdong Agricultural Sciences 7: 177–180.
Aparicio, J.D., C.S. Benimeli, C.A. Almeida, M.A. Polti, and V.L. Colin. 2017. Integral use of sugarcane vinasse for biomass production of actinobacteria: Potential application in soil remediation. Chemosphere 181: 478–484.
Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment. 1996. Canadian Soil Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Environmental and Human Health.
Christofoletti, C.A., J.P. Escher, J.E. Correia, J.F.U. Marinho, and C.S. Fontanetti. 2013. Sugarcane vinasse environmental implications of its use. Waste Management 33: 2752–2761.
Chen, C., J.N. Zhang, M. Lu, C. Qin, Y.H. Chen, L. Yang, Q.W. Huang, J.C. Wang, Z.G. Shen, and Q.R. Shen. 2016. Microbial communities of an arable soil treated for 8 years with organic and inorganic fertilizers. Biology and Fertility of Soils 52: 455–467.
Coca, M., V.M. Barrocal, S. Lucas, G. González-Benito, and M.T. García-Cubero. 2015. Protein production in Spirulinaplatensis biomass using beet vinasse-supplemented culture media. Food and Bioproducts Processing 94(9): 306–312.
Cole, J.R., Q. Wang, J.A. Fish, B. Chai, D.M. McGarrell, Y. Sun, C.T. Brown, A. Porras-Alfaro, C.R. Kuske, and J.M. Tiedje. 2014. Ribosomal Database Project: Data and tools for high throughput rRNA analysis. Nuclric Acids Research 42: D633–D642.
Correia, J.E., C.A. Christofoletti, A.C. Marcato, J.F. Marinho, and C.S. Fontanetti. 2017. Histopathological analysis of tilapia gills (Oreochromis niloticus linnaeus, 1758) exposed to sugarcane vinasse. Ecotoxicology Environmental Safety 135: 319–326.
Demattê, J.A.M., M.A.P. Gama, M. Coopera, J.C. Araújo, M.R. Nanni, and P.R. Fiorioa. 2004. Effect of fermentation residue on the spectral reflectance properties of soils. Geoderma 120(3): 187–200.
DeSantis, T.Z., P. Hugenholtz, N. Larsen, M. Rojas, E.L. Brodie, K. Keller, T. Huber, D. Dalevi, P. Hu, and G.L. Andersen. 2006. Greengenes, a chimera-checked 16S rRNA gene database and workbench compatible with ARB. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 72(7): 5069–5072.
Fierer, N., J. Ladau, J.C. Clemente, J.W. Leff, S.M. Owens, K.S. Pollard, R. Knight, J.A. Gilbert, and R.L. McCulley. 2013. Reconstructing the microbial diversity and function of pre-agricultural tallgrass prairie soils in the united states. Science 342(6158): 621–624.
Guangxi Environmental Protection Research Institute. 1992. The soil environment background values of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Chengdu: Chengdu Maps Press.
Hakanson, L. 1980. An ecology risk index for aquatic pollution control: A sedimentological approach. Water Research 14(8): 975–1001.
Hidri, Y., O. Fourti, S. Eturki, N. Jedidi, A. Charef, and A. Hassen. 2014. Effects of 15-year application of municipal wastewater on microbial biomass, fecal pollution indicators, and heavy metals in a Tunisian calcareous soil. Journal of Soils and Sediments 14(1): 155–163.
Jiang, Z.P., Y.R. Li, G.P. Wei, Q. Liao, T.M. Su, Y.C. Meng, H.Y. Zhang, and C.Y. Lu. 2012. Effect of long-term vinasse application on physico–chemical properties of sugarcane field soils. Sugar Tech 14(4): 412–417.
Lauber, C.L., M. Hamady, R. Knight, and N. Fierer. 2009. Pyrosequencing-based assessment of soil pH as a predictor of soil bacterial community structure at the continental scale. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 15(75): 5111–5120.
Lepš, J., and P. Šmilauer. 2003. Multivariate analysis of ecological data using Canoco. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Li, X.F., Z.B. Chen, H.B. Chen, and Z.Q. Chen. 2011. Spatial distribution of soil nutrients and their response to land use in eroded area of South China. Procedia Environmental Sciences 10: 14–19.
Li, Q.Q., Y.L. Luo, C.Q. Wang, B. Li, X. Zhang, D.G. Yuan, X.S. Gao, and H. Zhang. 2016a. Spatiotemporal variations and factors affecting soil nitrogen in the purple hilly area of Southwest China during the 1980 s and the 2010s. Science of the Total Environment 547: 173–181.
Li, Y.R., X.P. Song, and J.M. Wu. 2016b. Sugar industry and improved sugarcane farming technologies in China. Sugar Tech 18(6): 603–611.
Lin, R.Z., and Y.G. Yang. 2014. Using vinasse to produce liquid bio-organic fertilizer. Guangxi Sugar Industry 1: 41–46.
Liu, J.L., and F.H. Zhang. 2000. The progress of phosphorus transformation in soil and its influencing factors. Journal of Agricultural University of Hebei 23(3): 36–45.
Mcbride, M., S. Sauve, and W. Hendershot. 2010. Solubility control of Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb in contaminated soils. European Journal of Soil Science 48(2): 337–346.
Moraes, B.S., M. Zaiat, and A. Bonomi. 2015. Anaerobic digestion of vinasse from sugarcane ethanol production in Brazil: Challenges and perspectives. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 44: 888–903.
Navarro, A.R., M.D.C. Sepúlveda, and M.C. Rubio. 2000. Bio-concentration of vinasse from the alcoholic fermentation of sugar cane molasses. Waste Management 20(7): 581–585.
Pansu, M., and J. Gautheyrou. 2006. Handbook of soil analysis-mineralogical, organic and inorganic methods. Berlin: Springer.
Quast, C., E. Pruesse, P. Yilmaz, J. Gerken, T. Schweer, P. Yarza, J. Peplies, and F.O. Glckner. 2013. The SILVA ribosomal RNA gene database project: Improved data processing and web-based tools. Nuclric Acids Research 41: 590–596.
Ramirez, K.S., J.M. Craine, and N. Fierer. 2012. Consistent effects of nitrogen amendments on soil microbial communities and processes across biomes. Global Change Biology 18(6): 1918–1927.
Rousk, J., E. Bååth, P.C. Brookes, C.L. Lauber, C. Lozupone, J.G. Caporaso, R. Knight, and N. Fierer. 2010. Soil bacterial and fungal communities across a pH gradient in an arable soil. The ISME Journal 4(10): 1340–1351.
Schloss, P.D., S.L. Westcott, T. Ryabin, J.R. Hall, M. Hartmann, E.B. Hollister, R.A. Lesniewski, B.B. Oakley, D.H. Parks, C.J. Robinson, J.W. Sahl, B. Stres, G.G. Thallinger, D.J. VanHorn, and C.F. Weber. 2009. Introducing mothur: Open-source, platform-independent, community-supported software for describing and comparing microbial communities. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 75(23): 7537–7541.
Sotirios, V., P. Edoardo, A. Maria, C. Fabrizio, P.S. Cocconcelli, and T. Marco. 2012. Soil bacterial diversity screening using single 16S rRNA gene V regions coupled with multi-million read generating sequencing technologies. PLoS ONE 7(8): e42671.
Stroobants, A., F. Degrune, C. Olivier, C. Muys, C. Roisin, G. Colinet, B. Bodson, D. Portetelle, and M. Vandenbol. 2014. Diversity of bacterial communities in a profile of a winter wheat field: Known and unknown members. Microbiology Ecology 68: 822–833.
Su, T.M., Y.R. Li, Y.L. Mo, C.Y. Lu, G.P. Wei, and Z.P. Jiang. 2009. Effect of vinasse application on the agronomic characters of sugarcane. Chinese Journal of Soil Science 40(2): 276–278.
Su, T.M., Y.R. Li, G.P. Wei, Z.P. Jiang, Q. Liao, and S.B. Zhu. 2012. Macronutrients absorption and surface runoff losses under different fertilizer treatments in sugarcane field. Sugar Tech 14(3): 255–260.
Tan, J.L., and Y.H. Kang. 2009. Changes in soil properties under the influences of crop** and drip irrigation during the reclamation of severe salt-affected soil. Agricultural Sciences in China 8(10): 1228–1237.
Tejada, M., and J.L. Gonzalez. 2005. Beet vinasse applied to wheat under dry land conditions affects soil properties and yield. European Journal of Agronomy 23(4): 336–347.
The National Environmental Protection Agency of China. 1995. Environmental quality standard for soils, GB 15618-1995.
Truog, E. 1930. Determination of readily available phosphorous in soil. Journal of American Societu of Agronomists 22: 874–882.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1996a. EPA Method 3052: Microwave assisted acid digestion of siliceous and organically based matrices. Test methods for evaluating solid waste, Washington, DC.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1996b. Soil Screening Guidance: User’s Guide. Office of solid Waste and Emergency response, Washington, DC.
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). 2017. Sugar: World Markets and Trade. USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/circulars/sugar.pdf. Accessed 20 March 2018.
Vlissidis, A., and A.I. Zouboulis. 1993. Thermophilic anaerobic digestion of alcohol distillery wastewaters. Bioresource Technology 43(2): 131–140.
Wang, J.M., W.H. Liu, R.X. Yang, L. Zhang, and J.J. Ma. 2013. Assessment of the potential ecological risk of heavy metals in reclaimed soils at an opencast coal mine. Disaster Advances 6: 366–367.
Wang, H.Y., W. Cheng, T. Li, J.M. Zhou, and X.Q. Chen. 2016. Can nonexchangeable potassium be differentiated from structural potassium in soils? Pedosphere 26(2): 206–215.
Yang, S.D., J.X. Liu, and J. Wu. 2013. Effects of vinasse and press mud application on the biological properties of soils and productivity of sugarcane. Sugar Tech 15(2): 152–158.
Yu, Z.S., and D. Huang. 1990. Modified conway method for soil available nitrogen testing. Acta Agriculturae Boreali-Sinica 5(4): 83–87.
Zhang, X.Y., and S.Q. Song. 1999. The research of environmental background values of the toxic element. Journal of Guangxi Teacher Collage (Natural Science Edition) 16(4): 98–101.
Zhang, M., M. Zhang, C. Zhang, H. Du, G. Wei, X. Pang, H. Zhou, B. Liu, and L. Zhao. 2009. Pattern extraction of structural responses of gut microbiota to rotavirus infection via multivariate statistical analysis of clone lihrarv data. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 70(2): 21–29.
Zhalnina, K., R. Dias, P.D. de Quadros, A. Davis-Richardson, F.A.O. Camargo, I.M. Clark, S.P. McGrath, P.R. Hirsch, and E.W. Triplett. 2015. Soil pH determines microbial diversity and composition in the park grass experiment. Microbial Ecology 69: 395–406.
Zhou, J., D.W. Guan, B.K. Zhou, B.S. Zhao, M.C. Ma, J. Qin, X. Jiang, S.F. Chen, F.M. Cao, D.L. Shen, and J. Li. 2015. Influence of 34-years of fertilization on bacterial communities in an intensively cultivated black soil in northeast China. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 90: 42–51.
Zhu, Q.Z., Y.R. Li, W.Z. Wang, and T.J. Lan. 2007. Preliminary study on application of distillery wastewater in sugarcane field. Sugar Crops of China 3: 7–10.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Project of International Scientific Exchange Program (Grant No. 7–1, 2017) from Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China; Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 2015GXNSFEA139001), Guangxi Key Technology R&D Program (Grant No. GK-AB16380244) and Guangxi R & D Research Program Projects (Grant No. GuiKe zhuan1425001–2–1) from Guangxi science and Technology Department.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
All authors of this paper declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Electronic Supplementary Material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yin, J., Deng, CB., Wang, XF. et al. Effects of Long-Term Application of Vinasse on Physicochemical Properties, Heavy Metals Content and Microbial Diversity in Sugarcane Field Soil. Sugar Tech 21, 62–70 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12355-018-0630-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12355-018-0630-2