Response of Soil Chemical and Biological Properties to Cement Dust Emissions: Insights for Sustainable Soil Management

Land use change is associated with both higher fossil fuel usage and global cement production, significantly impacting environmental sustainability. Cement dust emission is the third-largest source of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, right behind fossil fuel usage due to intense agricultural practices like aggressive tillage management. This study’s aim is to determine cement dust emissions impacts on various tillage management methods and the formation of cement dust-affected CO2 emissions, soil pH, soil organic matter content, total nitrogen content, available phosphorus, CaCO3 content, bacteria and fungi populations, and enzyme activities. The target of this study is to evaluate how cement dust emissions impact the soil properties and sustainability of different tillage practices. Composite soils from wheat–sugar beet (potato)–fallow cropping sequences under conventional tillage (CT) and no-till (NT) management were collected (0–30 cm depth) with three replications at varying distances from a cement factory (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 km). To find differences among individual treatments and distances, a two-way ANOVA was employed along with Duncan’s LSD test comparing the various effects of tillage techniques. The associations between soil chemical and biological properties and CO2 fluxes under the impact of cement dust were examined using Pearson’s correlation analysis. There were notable relationships between soil microbial population, enzyme activities, pH, CaCO3, and CO2 fluxes. The sampling distance from the cement plant had a substantial correlation with soil organic carbon, urease activity, pH, CaCO3, and bacterial populations. According to the study, different tillage methods (CT and NT) affected the diversity and abundance of microorganisms within the soil ecosystem. CT was more beneficial for the microbial population and for sustainable management.