I hate to get started on what is
wrong about most manure application systems.
The classic system got the manure out on the fields in the off season
and this allowed Mother Nature to have time to integrate the manure into the
soils.
The best fix for all this is to
blend in a biochar fraction of say ten percent to adsorb free nutrients for
later usage. We will in the end do just
that once biochar is better understood.
In the meantime, over rich manure
must be sprayed on the fields and the nutrient surplus is washed away out of
reach.
Blending fresh manure with biochar
may actually allow the reduction of the manure itself to be accelerated in the
heap itself without any fear of nutrient losses. Work needs to be done with that.
Improve Crop Yield By Removing Manure Solids
by Staff Writers
Manure has long been used as a crop fertilizer, but the challenge of finding an efficient use of the nutrients found in manure is ever present. The ratio of nitrogen to phosphorus in manure is low in relation to the nutrient needs of most crops.
Therefore, crops tend to be overloaded with manure to meet the nitrogen
requirement of agricultural
crops, but the excess phosphorus from the process can damage the environment.
In a study funded by agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, scientists at
the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre in Agassiz, British Colombia, with
collaborators in Quebec City, Quebec, and Brandon, Manitoba tested the
effectiveness of removing solids from dairy manure to improve yield by
increasing the nitrogen to
phosphorus ratio and reducing the loss of nitrogen by hastening soil
infiltration.
Solids were removed from the manure slurry in a passive two stage
lagoon system, which resulted in the liquid fraction containing less dry matter
and a higher nitrogen to phosphorus ratio than whole manure.
The results from the six-year study indicated that the liquid fraction
allowed for a higher crop yield and 63% more nitrogen recovery than whole
manure at equal application rates.
These benefits were the most apparent in the mid-season harvests when
dry summer weather conditions accelerate
nitrogen loss through ammonia volatilization.
The slurry's higher nitrogen to phosphorus ratio prevented the soil
from becoming overloaded with phosphorus.
Shabtai Bittman, the principal author of the study, said, "The
efficacy of the dairy slurry nitrogen was greatly improved by low-cost removal
of slurry solids even when using a low-emission application
technique. This significantly advances the cause of efficient use of manure
nutrient by crops."
The full study is published in the January/February 2011 issue of the
Journal of Environmental Quality.
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