SOILS, SEC 4 • ECOTOXICOLOGY • RESEARCH ARTICLE Effect of biogas slurry application on soil nutrients, phosphomonoesterase activities, and phosphorus species distribution Christophe Niyungeko 1,2 & Xinqiang Liang 1 & Chunlong Liu 3 & Junjie Zhou 1 & Lingling Chen 1 & Yuanyuan Lu 1 & Benjamin Makimilua Tiimub 1 & Fayong Li 1 Received: 8 May 2019 /Accepted: 12 August 2019 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019 Abstract Purpose Biogas slurry (BS) is used for soil productivity amendment, but its effect on soil phosphorus (P) form distribution has not been thoroughly examined. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of BS on soil nutrients, phosphomono- esterase activities, and P species distribution. Materials and methods A 91-day incubation study was carried out for a silt soil which was amended with BS at a rate equivalent to 120 kg N ha -1 and 38 kg P ha -1 and 240 kg N ha -1 and 76 kg P ha -1 . The soil with no BS addition was used as control. Solution P-31 nuclear magnetic resonance ( 31 P-NMR) spectroscopy was used to characterize soil P species. Acid phosphomonoesterase (ACP) and alkaline phosphomonoesterase (ALP) activities, pH, cation exchange capacity (CEC), NH 4 + –N, NO 3 - –N, and Olsen P were also evaluated. Results and discussion The results indicated that the application of BS increased pH, CEC, NH 4 + –N, NO 3 - –N, and Olsen P contents. Moreover, the addition of BS inhibited ACP activity, but it increased ALP activity. A significant positive correlation was found between ALP and orthophosphates, suggesting ALP activity may play important roles in the release of orthophos- phates. The P composition was dominated by inorganic orthophosphate (59.9–76.2% extracted P) and orthophosphate monoes- ters (23.8–38% extracted P), with smaller concentration of pyrophosphates (1.2–3.6% extracted P), and orthophosphate diesters (less than 1.5% of the extracted P). Conclusions The P was mainly in the form of inorganic orthophosphates and organic monoesters. The present study shows that BS can be a substitute solution for the supply of essentials nutrients for plants. However, care would be entirely taken with long- term application of BS, since extreme nutrients addition may cause eutrophication of water bodies. Keywords Biogas slurry . Phosphomonoesters activities . Soil P species . Solution 31 P-NMR spectroscopy 1 Introduction Anaerobic digestion has been developed worldwide to meet the rising concerns of energy source and also to treat organic wastes (Yu et al. 2010). In addition, biogas production from anaerobic digestion of animal wastes can contribute to the mitigation of global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions (Nielsen et al. 2009). China is a major developer of biogas projects. For example, in 2007, the national rural biogas proposed 40 million units should be produced by 2010 and 80 million units maintained by 2020 (Chen and Liu 2017). However, this growing use of anaerobic digestion has led to another issue: in what way to manage the huge amounts of biogas slurry (BS), produced through this anaerobic digestion (Chen et al. 2017). Discharging unprocessed BS will lead to Responsible editor: Peng Cai * Xinqiang Liang liang410@zju.edu.cn; younglj2009@hotmail.com 1 College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China 2 Chemistry Department, Faculty of Sciences, University of Burundi, 2700 Bujumbura, Burundi 3 Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin 150081, China Journal of Soils and Sediments https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-019-02435-y