{"id":1825,"date":"2023-03-30T14:32:58","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T13:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/?p=1825"},"modified":"2026-03-17T16:32:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T16:32:48","slug":"research-output-prize-2023-sarah-duddigan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/research-output-prize-2023-sarah-duddigan\/","title":{"rendered":"Research Output Prize 2023 &#8211; Sarah Duddigan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Effects of application of horticultural soil amendments on decomposition, quantity, stabilisation and quality of soil carbon<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Soil fertility is integral in helping plants grow. However, there are big differences in the amount of carbon stored between compost types. By identifying the quality and turnover of soil to assess carbon levels and by questioning the practice of compost application as a means of increasing soil carbon in the long term, this work will inform horticultural practices in the future.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: black;\">If you\u2019re a gardener you probably know how important it is to improve soil fertility to help plants grow. Like professional horticulturists, we often seek to be more sustainable, but even using organic compost in turns out there are big differences in the amount of carbon stored between compost types (affecting the ability of our agricultural soils to help mitigate climate change). <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: black;\">Sarah Duddigan and colleagues from the University or Reading and the Royal Horticultural Society set out explore this question using state-of-the-art approaches to characterise soil organic matter quality and turnover. They found surprising results, such as how composts rich in organic matter (from plant fats and waxes) did have lots of carbon, but because that carbon had been broken down in the absence of mineral soil components, it was less stable. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; color: black;\">This puts into question the practice of compost application as a means of increasing soil carbon in the long term. The results of this study are very important for informing horticultural practices, especially at a time where various peat-alternative amendments are under consideration.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Sarah Duddigan\u00a0is a Research Assistant split between the Department of Geography and Environmental Science, and the Department of Sustainable Land Management at the University of Reading. She is the winner of the University\u2019s 2023 Research Output Prize (Environment theme) for her article as first author in\u00a0<em>Scientific Reports<\/em>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-022-22451-2\">\u2018Effects of application of horticultural soil amendments on decomposition, quantity, stabilisation and quality of soil carbon\u2019<\/a>. The paper is dedicated to the memory of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reading.ac.uk\/news\/2022\/University-News\/Staff\/Professor-Joanna-Clark-obituary\">Professor Joanna Clark<\/a>, a valued examiner, mentor and friend.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Find out more about this work on <a href=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/understanding-types-of-compost-and-soil-carbon-quality-and-why-this-matters-for-climate-change-mitigation\/\">Connecting Research<\/a>.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Effects of application of horticultural soil amendments on decomposition, quantity, stabilisation and quality of soil carbon Soil fertility is integral in helping plants grow. However, there are big differences&#8230;<a class=\"read-more\" href=\"&#104;&#116;&#116;&#112;&#115;&#58;&#47;&#47;&#114;&#101;&#115;&#101;&#97;&#114;&#99;&#104;&#46;&#114;&#101;&#97;&#100;&#105;&#110;&#103;&#46;&#97;&#99;&#46;&#117;&#107;&#47;&#101;&#110;&#103;&#97;&#103;&#101;&#109;&#101;&#110;&#116;&#45;&#97;&#110;&#100;&#45;&#105;&#109;&#112;&#97;&#99;&#116;&#47;&#114;&#101;&#115;&#101;&#97;&#114;&#99;&#104;&#45;&#111;&#117;&#116;&#112;&#117;&#116;&#45;&#112;&#114;&#105;&#122;&#101;&#45;&#50;&#48;&#50;&#51;&#45;&#115;&#97;&#114;&#97;&#104;&#45;&#100;&#117;&#100;&#100;&#105;&#103;&#97;&#110;&#47;\">Read More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":469,"featured_media":1881,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[206],"tags":[68],"coauthors":[90],"class_list":["post-1825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ecr-output-prize-2023","tag-environmental-sciences"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Research Output Prize 2023 - Sarah Duddigan - Engagement and Impact<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/research-output-prize-2023-sarah-duddigan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Research Output Prize 2023 - Sarah Duddigan - Engagement and Impact\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Effects of application of horticultural soil amendments on decomposition, quantity, stabilisation and quality of soil carbon Soil fertility is integral in helping plants grow. However, there are big differences...Read More &gt;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/research-output-prize-2023-sarah-duddigan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Engagement and Impact\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-30T13:32:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-17T16:32:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/205\/2023\/03\/Sarah-Duddigan_A1-poster-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Donna Walton\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Donna Walton\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/research-output-prize-2023-sarah-duddigan\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/research-output-prize-2023-sarah-duddigan\/\",\"name\":\"Research Output Prize 2023 - Sarah Duddigan - Engagement and Impact\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-30T13:32:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-17T16:32:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/#\/schema\/person\/ed94c3d9e2aa2dce8ea35fee5b9664bf\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/research-output-prize-2023-sarah-duddigan\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/research-output-prize-2023-sarah-duddigan\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/research-output-prize-2023-sarah-duddigan\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Research Output Prize 2023 &#8211; Sarah Duddigan\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/\",\"name\":\"Engagement and Impact\",\"description\":\"Research at the University of Reading\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/#\/schema\/person\/ed94c3d9e2aa2dce8ea35fee5b9664bf\",\"name\":\"Donna Walton\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/5a16b776489b86a745e714b503102424\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96cdf5ace3b619fa34625ee0dc43cc24a03354aaf4e0f4c43cc1b11ddfe7929b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96cdf5ace3b619fa34625ee0dc43cc24a03354aaf4e0f4c43cc1b11ddfe7929b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Donna Walton\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/author\/xd923591reading-ac-uk\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Research Output Prize 2023 - Sarah Duddigan - Engagement and Impact","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/engagement-and-impact\/research-output-prize-2023-sarah-duddigan\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Research Output Prize 2023 - Sarah Duddigan - Engagement and Impact","og_description":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Effects of application of horticultural soil amendments on decomposition, quantity, stabilisation and quality of soil carbon Soil fertility is integral in helping plants grow. 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