Bioaugmentaton in Technosols created in abandoned pyritic tailings can contribute to enhance soil C sequestration and plant colonization

- Effective microorganisms (EM) contributed to increase soil organic and inorganic C.
- EM favoured higher soil nutrient contents.
- EM adding rate was related to increased vegetation richness and plant density.
- Vegetation colonization was mainly associated to microbial biomass, organic C and N.
- The organic material and EM rate was not related to metal immobilization.

Creation of Technosols in combination with phytostabilization may be a sustainable strategy to minimize the environmental and human health hazards derived from mine tailings. Bioaugmentation can facilitate plant establishment and growth for efficient phytostabilization. In order to assess if bioaugmentation can increase soil quality and fertility, decrease metal(loid) mobility and accelerate plant colonization, a one-year field experiment was designed with creation of Technosols in two tailings ponds with different pH (acidic (AT) and neutral (NT)), with addition of marble waste (MaW) and two organic materials (pig manure (PM) and sewage sludge (SS), without or with inoculation of effective microorganisms (EM) at three rates. Results showed that MaW was the main factor responsible for maintaining pH ~ 7 in AT and ~ 8 in NT, decreasing salinity, and decreasing the soluble fraction of metals (70-99%). The soluble fraction of As decreased ~ 45% in AT, related to increases in pH up to neutrality, while increased ~ 90% in NT with PM due to pH > 8 and higher content of organic compounds. The addition of PM and SS significantly increased soil organic C (SOC), nutrient contents and microbial biomass and activity in both tailings, being PM more effective. However, a positive priming effect was observed in NT with SS addition likely due to higher C/N ratio and lack of nutrients. There was a significant effect of EM rate on inorganic C, SOC, N, K and microbial biomass and activity, with higher values as rate increased. Vegetation richness and density directly increased with increasing EM rate. Multivariate analyses showed that the most important properties contributing to increase richness and plant density were microbial biomass and N. Thus, bioaugmentation contributed to soil C sequestration (as organic and inorganic C) and soil fertility, related to high soil microbial biomass and activity, which facilitated an effective colonization of vegetation.

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