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Effects of liquid manure application techniques on ammonia emission and winter wheat yield

  • Ammonia emissions following liquid manure application impair human health and threaten natural ecosystems. In growing arable crops, where immediate soil incorporation of the applied liquid manure is not possible, best-available application techniques are required in order to decrease ammonia losses. We determined ammonia emission, crop yield and nitrogen uptake of winter wheat in eight experimental sites across Germany. Each individual experiment consisted of an unfertilized control (N0), broadcast calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) application as well as four different techniques to apply cattle slurry (CS) and biogas digestate (BD). Fertilizer was applied to growing winter wheat at a total rate of 170 kg N ha-1 split into two equal dressings. The following application techniques were tested for both liquid manure types: (i) trailing hose (TH) application using untreated and (ii) acidified (~pH 6) liquid manure (+A), as well as (iii) a combination of open slot injection (SI) for the first dressing and trailing shoe (TS) application for the second dressing without and (iv) with the addition of a nitrification inhibitor (NI) for the first dressing. The highest ammonia emissions (on average 30 kg N ha-1) occurred following TH application of BD. TH application of CS led to significantly lower emissions (on average 19 kg N ha-1). Overall, acidification reduced ammonia emissions by 64% compared to TH application without acidification for both types of liquid manures. On average, the combination of SI and TS application resulted in 23% lower NH3 emissions in comparison to TH application (25% for the first application by SI and 20% for the second application by TS). Supplementing an NI did not affect ammonia emissions. However, decreasing ammonia emissions by acidification or SI did not increase winter wheat yield and nitrogen uptake. All organically fertilized treatments led to similar crop yield (approx. 7 t ha-1 grain dry matter yield) and above-ground biomass nitrogen uptake (approx. 150 kg ha-1). Yield (8 t ha-1) and nitrogen uptake (approx. 190 kg h-1) were significantly higher for the CAN treatment; while for the control, yield (approx. 4.5 t ha-1) and above-ground biomass nitrogen uptake (approx. 90 kg ha-1) were significantly lower. Overall, our results show that reducing NH3 emissions following liquid manure application to growing crops is possible by using different mitigation techniques. For our field trial series, acidification was the technique with the greatest NH3 mitigation potential.

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Author:Martin ten HufORCiD, Thorsten ReinschORCiD, Mareike Zutz, Christoph Essich, Reiner RuserORCiD, Caroline Buchen-TschiskaleORCiD, Heinz Flessa, Hans-Werner OlfsORCiD
Title (English):Effects of liquid manure application techniques on ammonia emission and winter wheat yield
URN:urn:nbn:de:bsz:959-opus-61037
DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13020472
ISSN:2073-4395
Parent Title (English):Agronomy
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Year of Completion:2023
Release Date:2024/05/27
Tag:Acidification; Biogas digestate; Cattle slurry; Nitrification inhibitor; Open slot injection; Trailing hose; Trailing shoe
Volume:13
Issue:2
Article Number:472
Page Number:20
Faculties:Fakultät AuL
DDC classes:600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 630 Landwirtschaft, Veterinärmedizin
Review Status:Peer Reviewed
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - CC BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International