Effects of spent mushroom compost application on the physicochemical properties of a degraded soil

Abstract. Land and laboratory studies show that the application of organic amendments into the soil improves the physicochemical properties of it. The study aims to study explore spent mushroom compost (SMC) application on the physicochemical properties in weak-structured degraded soil. The approach involved establishing a plot experiment under laboratory conditions with spent mushroom compost applications (control, 0.5 %, 1 %, 2 %, 4 % and 8 %), soil samples were incubated at field capacity for 21, 42, and 62 days. Spent mushroom compost applications into the soil significantly increased the aggregate stability (AS) and decreased the modulus of rupture. Application of SMC at the rate of 1 %, 2 %, 4 %, and 8 % were significantly increased the total nitrogen (N) and soil organic carbon (SOC) contents of the degraded soil at all incubation periods (p