Municipal solid waste application on a vertisol to sustain crop yields in southern Italy

Effect of municipal waste (MSW) compost, organic and mineral fertilizers on soil properties, crop yields and quality of products were evaluated. The f ield experiment has been laid out on completely randomized blocks with thre e replications, comparing three types of fertilizer and three N doses on su gar beet and wheat in rotation, but cropped each year on two adjacent plots . MSW compost affects positively sugar beet and grain durum wheat yield. Si gnificant variations on soil total organic C, total extracted C and humic C were observed only between years and crops, not among fertilizer treatment s. Significant differences in the humic acid composition were revealed by F T-IR. Total Cu, Zn, Pb, Mn and Cd contents of the soil do not seem to be in fluenced by the "fertilizing treatments" (types and doses).