Analyzing the effect of lake dredged material from the Western Lake Erie Basin on soil properties and corn health

US lakes and federal navigation channels are dredged yearly to maintain the economic activity of ports and harbors, and about 1.5 million cubic yards (about 1.1 million m³) of dredged material (DM) is excavated from the Western Lake Erie Basin in Ohio. After the prohibition of open water disposal of DM, the State of Ohio is recommending finding beneficial uses, including amending farm soils. This research investigated whether the different ratios of DM amending an organic farm soil enhance the soil properties, corn (Zea mays) health, and crop yield. We did a greenhouse experiment for 122 days, and our soil blends consisted of 100% farm soil, 100% DM, 95% farm soil + 5% DM, 90% farm soil + 10% DM, and 80% farm soil + 20% DM. Our results indicated that as the DM ratio increased, the cation exchange capacity (20–37 meq 100 g⁻¹), soil calcium (2880–6400 mg kg⁻¹), and soil total phosphorus (710–1060 mg kg⁻¹) increased, but the soil bulk density value (0.8–0.6 mg cm⁻³) decreased slightly. The above (11–37 g) and below (1–3.7 g) corn biomass weights were higher as the DM ratio increased. The highest corn yield was observed in 100% DM (12.7–46.8 g). These findings demonstrate that DM has the potential to be used as an agricultural farm soil substrate.