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Published in Agron J 91:826-833 (1999)
© 1999 American Society of Agronomy
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Agronomy Journal 91:826-833 (1999)
© 1999 American Society of Agronomy

ANIMAL WASTE MANAGEMENT

Surface-Banded and Broadcast Dairy Manure Effects on Tall Fescue Yield and Nitrogen Uptake

Shabtai Bittmana, C.Grant Kowalenkoa, Derek E. Hunta and Orlando Schmidtb

a Pacific Agri-Food Res. Ctr., Agric. & Agri-Food Canada, Agassiz, BC, Canada V0M 1A0
b Dairy Producers' Conservation Group, Abbotsford, BC, Canada V3G 2M3

bittmans{at}em.agr.ca


   ABSTRACT
TOP
 ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
 Materials and methods
 Results and discussion
 REFERENCES
 
Efficient use of slurry manure nutrients for feeding forage crops on dairy farms is important. The main objective of this study was to compare the response of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) to N in dairy (Bos taurus) slurry manure applied with a splash plate (broadcasting) or a drag-shoe (surface banding) applicator, and broadcast mineral fertilizer, in spring, summer, and autumn. The effects of delayed application and band spacing were also examined. The study was conducted from 1994 to 1996 in southwestern British Columbia on a Monroe series soil described as a Eutrochrept (eluviated eutric Brunisol) of moderate to good drainage. Dairy slurry was applied at two rates (50 and 100 kg ha-1 of NH3–N) with splash plate or drag-shoe applicators at the beginning of growth (early) or 7 to 10 d later (late). Ammonium nitrate fertilizer was broadcast at 0 to 125 kg N ha-1 in 25-kg increments (only 50 and 100 kg ha-1 rates on the late date). Yield response to manure banded with the drag-shoe applicator was similar to fertilizer applied at equivalent rates of mineral N. Yield response to splash-plate-applied manure was generally 0.5 to 1.0 Mg ha-1 lower than to fertilizer in summer and spring, but similar in autumn. Total N uptake was 15 to 20 kg ha-1 greater from drag-shoe than from splash-plate applied manure at high N application rate in spring and summer; differences in autumn were smaller. Treatment differences in total N concentration were small (at equivalent rates of applied mineral N). Apparent recovery of mineral N from manure was 20 to 30% greater with drag-shoe than with splash plate application in summer and 18% greater for the early application in spring. Delaying manure application had little effect on yield, but increased tissue N concentrations in some treatments in summer and autumn. Nitrate concentrations were always similar or lower for manure than for fertilizer treatments. This study showed that manure applied with the drag-shoe applicator produced consistent crop response similar to N fertilizer at equivalent rates of mineral N.

Abbreviations: ANRM, apparent N recovery, mineral • ANRT, apparent N recovery, total


   INTRODUCTION
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
Materials and methods
 Results and discussion
 REFERENCES
 
HISTORICALLY, dairy farmers have found it convenient to dispose of large quantities of slurry manure onto arable land, especially corn (Zea mays L.) and cereal fields, before planting in spring and after harvest in autumn. Application of manure on bare land in the autumn often leads to contamination of water systems over winter, due to leaching and surface runoff (Paul and Zebarth, 1997). Heavy manure applications in spring before planting may lead to high levels of residual soil nitrate in the autumn, which is prone to leaching particularly in regions with high rainfall (Zebarth et al., 1996).

Perennial grass crops offer certain advantages for utilization of slurry compared with annual crops and associated bare arable land: grasses use large quantities of nutrients, especially N; manure can be administered to perennial grasses several times through the growing season; grasslands pose less of a risk of leaching or runoff losses, because the ground is always covered; and there is less risk of pathogenic contamination of grasses than edible crops.

By applying manure to grassland over the growing season, storage facilities can be emptied before autumn, so that less storage capacity is required and the need to dispose of the manure on bare land in the autumn is less likely.

Unfortunately, it has been difficult for farmers to effectively utilize slurry rather than fertilizer on grassland as the primary source of N (Whitehead, 1995). With commonly available slurry broadcasting equipment (splash plate applicators), spreading must be done before there is any growth in spring or soon after harvest, to avoid fouling or burning the regrowth. Uniform application is difficult to achieve with broadcasters, especially in windy conditions. Slurry applied with the conventional splash plate applicator may lose up to 80% of its NH+4–N, so crop response is inconsistent (Amberger, 1990). Injecting manure beneath the soil surface has been shown to reduce NH3–N loss compared with surface application, but injection systems have not been well received by grassland farmers. Injectors are expensive, require substantial draft power, have slow application rates, are unsuitable for some soil conditions, and cause physical damage to sward especially under dry conditions and when repeated several times a year (Van der Meer et al., 1987).

To avoid the problems of injection but still deliver manure uniformly and with minimum air contact, European workers developed a slurry applicator that exudes the slurry in bands directly on the sod surface with individually floating shoes that slide on the ground, giving the applicator its name, drag-shoe or sleigh-foot. Several recent European studies have shown that application of manure in bands directly on the soil surface, beneath the grass canopy, reduces NH3 loss compared with broadcast spreading (Frost, 1994; Huijsmans et al., 1997; Lorenz and Steffens, 1997). However, other studies have reported similar total NH3 loss from banded and broadcast manure (Thompson et al., 1990) or inconsistent results (Pain and Misselbrook, 1996). The relative effectiveness of the techniques appears to depend on weather conditions (Lorenz and Steffens, 1997). Most of the published information on the effectiveness of the drag-shoe applicator has been carried out under maritime environmental conditions in western Europe on perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), winter cereals (e.g., winter wheat, Triticum aestivum L.), or native sod.

For producers to adopt the use of manure slurry instead of mineral fertilizer, they must be able to apply the slurry uniformly without risk of contaminating or burning their crop, and they must obtain a crop response equivalent to that from mineral fertilizer. The main objective of this study was to determine if dairy manure slurry applied with a banding applicator is more effective than slurry broadcast with a splash plate applicator, and whether banded slurry can be used to replace fertilizer N on a tall fescue sward in coastal British Columbia. The trial compared the effects of broadcast and banded slurry and broadcast mineral fertilizer on yield, N concentration, nitrate concentration, and N uptake by established swards under the contrasting conditions of weather and crop growth in spring, summer, and autumn. A second goal was to determine the consequence of delaying manure and fertilizer application by about 7 to 9 d to allow more time for application, and a third goal was to determine if crop response would be improved by reducing spacing between slurry bands (what we here term the close treatment).


   Materials and methods
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 Materials and methods
Results and discussion
 REFERENCES
 
The study was conducted at the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre near Agassiz in south coastal British Columbia. The experimental fields were situated on a Monroe series soil described as an Eutrochrept of moderate to good drainage, derived from medium textured stone-free Fraser River deposits. Three trials were conducted in each of three years: the spring, summer, and autumn of 1994, 1995, and 1996. The trials were conducted on the same or adjacent field, with each trial moved to a new location within the field. The trials were conducted on pure swards of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb. cv. Festorina) planted in 1992. In the years prior to the trials, conventional application of mineral fertilizer, slurry manure, and harvesting was carried out.

In each trial, all fertilizer and manure treatments were randomized within each of 4 blocks. The conventional broadcast application of slurry was carried out with a splash plate applicator mounted behind a slurry tank. Banding manure on the surface of the sod beneath the canopy was carried out with a drag-shoe applicator (Buts Meulepas BV, Oss, Netherlands) mounted on the rear of a tank. The drag-shoe applicator comprised of a hydraulically powered distributor that breaks up the clumps and forces the slurry into hoses, each supplying a shoe (drag-shoe) that glides independently on the surface of the ground. The manure bands were approximately 40 mm wide and spaced 23 cm apart; the shoes were spaced 11.5 cm apart for the close treatment.

In all trials, slurry was applied with each method at two rates (nominally 50 and 100 kg NH+4–N ha-1) and two times (early, 2 to 3 d after harvest, and late, 7 to 10 d later). The dates of application and the prevailing weather conditions are shown in Table 1 . Before manure was applied, the approximate NH+4–N concentration of the manure was tested in situ (Agros Nova Nitrogen Meter, Kallby, Sweden) and the application rates were calibrated to the target rates (Van Kessel et al., 1999). The tank was weighed before and after manure was applied, and the manure was analyzed in a laboratory, so that the actual rates of N applied could be determined. The total N in the manure was determined by a Kjeldahl method involving digestion that includes CuSO4 and TiO followed by automated ammonium determination. Ammonium was determined by steam distillation under alkaline conditions by addition of heavy magnesium oxide, followed by titration. The NO-3–N was considered to be insignificant compared with total and NH4–N because the slurry used was obtained from an anaerobic storage tank. In this study, NH4–N was considered equal to mineral N and Kjeldahl N was considered equal to total N. Dry matter content was determined after oven drying. The N and dry matter contents of the manures used, and the actual rates of mineral N applied for each slurry treatment in every trial are shown in Table 2 .


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  		Table 1 Date and weather conditions at dairy manure slurry applications and date and growth stage at harvests of tall fescue grown at Agassiz, BC (1994–1996)

 

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  		Table 2 Characteristics of dairy manure slurry and application rates (NH4–N basis) used for manure application trials in spring, summer, and autumn at Agassiz, BC (1994–1996)

 
Ammonium nitrate fertilizer was applied to the plots by broadcasting on the same dates as the manure. On the early dates, application rates ranged from 0 to 125 kg N ha-1 in 25-unit increments, whereas on the late dates only two rates (50 and 100 kg N ha-1) were used. Phosphorus, K, and trace nutrients were supplemented according to soil test to ensure adequate supplies.

The spring trials were conducted on the second cut in 1994 and first cuts in 1995 and 1996. The 1994 harvest for the spring trial was 5 wk after first harvest that year, whereas in 1995 and 1996 the harvests were scheduled by growth stage (Table 1). Summer and autumn trials were also harvested at approximately 5 to 6 wk of growth after the previous harvest. The herbage in areas measuring 1.5 by 8.0 m were harvested with a sickle-bar harvester at 4- to 5-cm cutting height.

Harvested material was weighed wet and a subsample weighing 0.7 to 1.0 kg was weighed, dried, and reweighed to determine dry matter content. Dried samples were ground through a 1-mm screen and tested for N concentration by combustion at 950°C followed by thermal conductivity detection (Model FP-428, Leco Instruments). Plant nitrate was determined by colorimetry after cadmium reduction using a modification of a method for soil (Van Lierop, 1986). The extraction involved boiling a 0.1-g sample in 10 mL of 0.25 M acetic acid and 0.15 M NH4F followed by filtration.

Total N uptake was calculated as the product of N concentration and aboveground biomass. Apparent N recovery for total N (ANRT) and mineral N (ANRM) was calculated as

where applied N is expressed as total N or mineral N, respectively, and N0 represents the plots that did not receive any N. The data for the three trials (1994, 1995, and 1996) were combined for each season (spring, summer, autumn) and were subjected to analysis of variance using the split plot in time model. Least significant difference values were calculated for treatment means from the pooled data for each season of the year; probability level for significance was set a priori at 0.05. For the fertilizer treatments, second-order polynomial equations were fitted separately to the response data (using values averaged over years and replicates) for early and late application dates. Because actual rates of mineral N applied as manure differed somewhat from nominal rates (Table 2), manure response values in each trial were compared with the interpolated fertilizer response values at equivalent levels of applied NH+4–N obtained from the polynomial equations. It was assumed that no additional error was introduced by using the interpolated values for fertilizer response, because of the high regression coefficients obtained (generally r2 > 0.98). The second-order polynomial fit exactly the values (3 points) for the late fertilizer application. Because of the very close fit of the polynomial curves, the actual values for fertilizer response are not shown on the graphs.


   Results and discussion
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 Materials and methods
 Results and discussion
REFERENCES
 
Table 3 shows the results of the analysis of variance for manure and fertilizer effects on yield and N uptake for the spring, summer, and autumn trials. In all three seasons, significant effects were found for treatments, years, and treatment x year interactions. For simplicity, the data for the three years for each season are combined in the figures, but the differences in response among the years are described in the text.


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  		Table 3 Summary of analyses of variance for dairy manure slurry application trials conducted in spring, summer, and autumn at Agassiz, BC (1994–1996)

 
Yield
In all seasons, grass yield responded to early and late fertilizer application in a curvilinear fashion, with the greatest yield response in spring and least in autumn trials (Fig. 1) . In all seasons, grass yield responded to even the highest increment of fertilizer. Delaying fertilizer applications by 7 to 10 d reduced yields in spring, summer, and autumn by about 0.2 to 0.3 t ha-1 at the 100 kg N ha-1 application rate, but at 50 kg N ha-1 the effect was small.



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  		Fig. 1 Yield of tall fescue as affected by NH4NO3 fertilizer and dairy slurry spread with splash plate and drag-shoe applicators early (at beginning of growth) and late (7 to 10 d later) in spring, summer, and autumn. Data are means across 3 yr (1994–1996)

 
In spring, manure applied early with the splash-plate applicator yielded significantly less than did fertilizer at equivalent levels of mineral N at both the 50 and 100 kg ha-1 (nominal) application rates (Fig. 1). Late application with the splash plate produced significantly lower yield than did fertilizer at the 100 kg N ha-1 rate, but the yield reduction at the 50 kg N ha-1 rate was not significant. Grass yield in response to manure applied with the drag-shoe applicator in both the early and late applications in spring was not significantly different from that produced by fertilizer at the 100 kg N ha-1 rate. However, at the 50 kg N ha-1 rate, the drag-shoe treatment produced about 0.3 t ha-1 less herbage than did the fertilizer treatment (P < 0.05) for both early and late applications. Although delaying application reduced yield response to fertilizer, no such effect was observed for the manure treatments in spring. Responses to the splash plate manure were similar to the drag-shoe in 1996, slightly lower in 1994, and substantially lower ({approx}15% for both early and late manure) in 1995. Conditions were favorable for manure application in 1995 (Table 1), but the slurry had relatively high dry matter content (Table 2).

In summer, manure applied with the splash-plate resulted in yields of about 0.7 to 0.8 t ha-1 less (P < 0.05) than did fertilizer at equivalent rates of mineral N in both application timings (Fig. 1). In contrast, the yields in response to the drag-shoe-applied manure and fertilizer were similar at both rates and timing. Better response to the drag-shoe was obtained for both early and late treatments in 1995 and 1996, but not in 1994. The reasons for these different responses are not apparent from the weather conditions or manure characteristics.

In autumn, both the early and late splash-plate-applied manure produced the same yield as respective fertilizer treatments at the 50 kg ha-1 rate, but the early splash plate manure treatment produced a lower yield than did fertilizer at the 100 kg ha-1 rate (Fig. 1). Drag-shoe-applied manure and fertilizer resulted in similar herbage production in all autumn treatments. Drag-shoe application produced significantly more yield in autumn than splash plate application only in 1995, when high temperature, sunshine, and wind speed all favored NH3 loss (Table 1).

Averaged over both N rate and timing treatments, yields produced by the drag-shoe, compared with the splash plate, were 9% greater in spring, 21% greater in summer, and 3% greater in autumn. At equivalent rates of mineral N, the drag-shoe treatment yielded 4% less yield in spring, 1% less in summer, and 9% less in autumn than did mineral fertilizer treatment. These results indicate that manure should be spread with the drag-shoe applicator at about a 5% higher rate of mineral N to obtain the equivalent yield to fertilizer. Reducing the spacing between the drag-shoe applicator shoes from 23 to 11.5 cm did not benefit herbage yield (Table 4) indicating that spacing between the bands was not a constraint to production.


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  		Table 4 Effect of spacing between manure slurry drag-shoe applicators on tall fescue yield and N uptake

 
N Uptake
Response of N uptake to fertilizer application was close to linear throughout the range of N rates and timings in all three seasons (Fig. 2) . Delaying application of fertilizer had no effect on total N uptake into the herbage. Applying manure using the splash plate applicator significantly reduced N uptake relative to fertilizer in all treatments in spring and summer. In autumn, the splash plate reduced N uptake only at the early application rate of 100 kg ha-1 of mineral N. In contrast, N uptake did not differ between drag-shoe manure application and fertilizer at any of the application rates, timings, or seasons. Nitrogen uptake was lower with the splash plate than with the drag-shoe in spring of 1994, summer and autumn of 1995, and summer of 1996. Reducing the distance between the shoes of the drag-shoe applicator had no effect on N uptake in spring and summer, but reduced N uptake in autumn (Table 4).



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  		Fig. 2 Nitrogen uptake by tall fescue as affected by NH4NO3 fertilizer and dairy slurry spread with splash plate and drag-shoe applicators early (at beginning of growth) and late (7 to 10 d later) in spring, summer, and autumn. Data are means across 3 yr (1994–1996)

 
For the fertilizer treatments, apparent N recoveries based on application rates of mineral N (ANRM) were somewhat lower in the autumn than in spring or summer (Table 5) . Delaying fertilizer application did not have a significant effect on ANRM. In spring, ANRM from the splash-plate-applied manure was significantly lower ({approx}20%) than from fertilizer. In summer, the differences were even greater, averaging about 30%, while in autumn the differences were less consistent. Drag-shoe-applied manure had ANRM values significantly greater than splash-plate-applied manure in both spring ({approx}10%) and summer ({approx}30%). ANRM for drag-shoe-applied manure and fertilizer were generally not statistically different. Over the entire study, the drag-shoe resulted in 3 to 8% lower ANRM than did fertilizer, whereas splash-plate-applied slurry had 18 to 22% lower ANRM than fertilizer.


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  		Table 5 Apparent N recovery based on mineral N (ANRM) and on total applied N (ANRT), applied as fertilizer or as dairy manure slurry in spring, summer, and autumn at Agassiz, BC (1994–1996)

 
It was surprising that ANRM for both fertilizer and drag-shoe-applied slurry was lower in autumn than in summer (when high temperatures favor volatilization of NH3) or in spring (when wet soils promote denitrification) (Table 5). A possible explanation is that more N was immobilized by microbes or stored below ground in the plants in autumn than in spring. The sampling protocol (cutting at 4 to 5 cm height) did not allow assessment of N storage in roots and crowns in this study. We have unpublished data from a nearby study that show substantial storage of N from manure applied in mid-September in roots and crowns of both tall fescue and orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.). As expected, the splash plate application, which is more subject to NH3 loss, had its lowest ANRM values in summer. Delaying manure application increased ANRM with the splash plate method (in spring) but decreased it for the drag-shoe method (in autumn). This may be partly explained by direct absorption of NH3 from the manure deposited with the splash plate on the new leaves that grew during the 7- to 10-d delay period.

Apparent N recovery is often reported on the basis of total N (mineral + organic N) contained in the manure (ANRT). ANRT from the drag-shoe-applied manure ranged from 17 to 32%; less than half as much N was recovered from the drag-shoe-applied manure as from fertilizer (Table 5). Values for ANRT for splash-plate-applied manure averaged less than 20%, with values lowest in summer; about a third as much N was recovered from splash plate manure as from fertilizer. Over all trials, manure application rate had only a small effect on ANRT. Similarly, there was little difference between early and late applications. Splash-plate-applied manure had significantly lower ANRT than drag-shoe-applied manure in summer and spring (early treatment only). Ammonia loss from splash-plate-applied manure is likely to be greater in summer than spring or autumn, due to a combination of higher air temperatures and less rain (Pain and Misselbrook, 1997).

Herbage N Concentration
Application of fertilizer produced a consistent increase in the N concentration in tall fescue in spring, summer, and autumn (Fig. 3) . For both fertilized and manured plots, grass N concentration was greatest in autumn (when yield response to applied N was least) and least in spring (when yield response was greatest). Delaying application of fertilizer increased the N concentration in the herbage in all seasons, but the effect was significant only at the high rate. In spring, slurry broadcast early with the splash plate produced similar increases in herbage N concentration as the fertilizer, but the grass that received the late-applied slurry had lower N concentrations than the corresponding fertilizer treatment. Response of herbage to drag-shoe-applied manure followed a similar pattern. In summer, splash-plate-applied manure produced N concentrations similar to fertilizer at the lower application rate, but lower N concentrations when applied at the higher rate. In contrast, the manure banded with the drag-shoe produced herbage N concentrations similar to those produced by fertilizer in summer. Similarly, banded manure was as effective as fertilizer in the autumn trials. However, manure applied early using the splash plate was less effective than fertilizer at increasing N concentration. There was about 3 g kg-1 more N in herbage receiving mineral N from manure at 100 kg ha-1 compared with 50 kg N ha-1, whereas with fertilizer the difference was about 5 g kg-1. Averaged over application rates and seasons, herbage receiving N early contained 26.3 g N kg-1 on fertilized plots, 25.7 on drag-shoe plots, and 24.9 on splash plate plots. Herbage receiving N late averaged 28.0 g N kg-1 on fertilized plots, 26.9 on drag-shoe plots, and 26.0 on splash plate plots.



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  		Fig. 3 Nitrogen concentration in tall fescue herbage as affected by NH4NO3 fertilizer and dairy slurry spread with splash plate and drag-shoe applicators early (at beginning of growth) and late (7 to 10 d later) in spring, summer, and autumn. Data are means across 3 yr (1994–1996)

 
Herbage Nitrate Concentration
Variability of nitrate concentration in herbage was greater than that for N concentration (higher coefficients of variation), but the trends were similar. Nitrate concentration in the herbage increased from spring to autumn although levels were always low with 50 kg N ha-1 applied. Herbage from fertilized plots generally contained more nitrate than herbage from manured plots, and herbage from drag-shoe treated plots contained more nitrate than herbage from splash plate treated plots. At the 50 kg N ha-1 application rate, the manure and fertilizer treatments did not result in different nitrate concentrations (Fig. 4) . At the 100 kg N ha-1 rate, however, herbage receiving splash-plate-applied manure generally contained significantly less nitrate than that receiving fertilizer in spring, summer, and autumn. Herbage receiving drag-shoe-applied manure had significantly lower concentrations of nitrate than that receiving fertilizer only in spring. In almost all cases, herbage receiving banded manure had higher nitrate concentrations than herbage receiving broadcast manure. Nitrate-N concentrations in herbage exceeded 1000 mg kg-1 only on the plots receiving mineral N in autumn. Delaying application of fertilizer or manure by 8 to 10 d generally increased nitrate concentrations, but the effect was small.



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  		Fig. 4 Nitrate-N concentration in herbage of tall fescue as affected by NH4NO3 fertilizer and dairy slurry spread with splash plate and drag-shoe applicators early (at beginning of growth) and late (7 to 10 d later) in spring, summer, and autumn. Data are means across 3 yr (1994–1996)

 
The ratio of nitrate concentration to total N concentration in the herbage increased with rate of N application and increased from spring to autumn (data not shown). The ratios were greatest for fertilized plots and lowest for broadcast-manure plots. Delaying manure and fertilizer application increased the ratio slightly.

Lower N concentration in herbage receiving manure compared with fertilizer indicates that somewhat higher applications rates of mineral N are required with manure than with fertilizer.

Summary and Conclusion
Our results show that lower application rates of N are required when manure is banded rather than when broadcast. We were concerned that manure application (especially delayed application) would lead to high nitrate concentration, because availability of manure N would be delayed. Our results show that increasing manure application rates increases total herbage N levels faster than nitrate levels, and there need be little concern for nitrate accumulation, especially in spring and summer.

Our results are consistent with European studies reporting that banded manure is more effective than broadcast manure for fertilizing perennial ryegrass (Carton et al., 1994), winter wheat (Carlson, 1994), and permanent grass swards (Lorenz and Steffens, 1997). Our results also support the conclusion that banding manure is generally more effective than broadcasting particularly in summer (Pain and Misselbrook, 1997). In individual cases, the relative effectiveness of the application methods among seasons could not be predicted in our study. For example, in 1994 the yield response to broadcast manure was as good as banded manure in late July, despite high temperatures and dry conditions (Table 1). The poor response to broadcasting compared with banding in mid-March of 1995, when temperatures were low and rain was falling, was due perhaps to the relatively high dry matter content of the manure, as this is often associated with greater NH3 loss (Stevens and Laughlin, 1997). The contrasting results in the different years led to a significant treatment x year interaction for all seasons (Table 3). Pain and Misselbrook (1997) concluded that NH3 loss from applied manure is affected by so many factors (including environmental conditions such as temperature, rainfall, season, and wind speed and aspects of manure composition and application methods, such as dry matter content, pH, and application rate and equipment) that prediction of crop response would be difficult. In our study, response to the drag-shoe was close to that of fertilizer in all nine experiments, whereas in four of nine experiments the splash plate performed poorly. Farmers require consistent crop response from manure application in order to use it as the prime source of nutrients.

Given the dependable results from applying manure with the drag-shoe applicator and the adequate time window for application demonstrated in this study, combined with other advantages including uniform field application, a clean crop which benefits silage fermentation (Steffens and Lorenz, 1998), and reduced emission of NH3 and probably odor (Sommer et al., 1997), farmers can safely and conveniently use slurry manure to replace fertilizer N for forage grass production. Although it is not certain that the saving in fertilizer costs will pay for the added equipment and spreading costs, the additional benefits of emptying out the manure pit before autumn, improving the N balance on the farm, reducing odors, and improved ability to comply with tightening environmental guidelines should encourage many farmers to try this new technology.

Our results show that manure applied by conventional broadcasting did not consistently support crop performance equal to that of mineral fertilizer. This helps to explain why farmers have been reluctant to replace purchased fertilizer with manure as the main N source for their grass crops. In contrast, manure banded with the drag-shoe applicator consistently gave results that were similar to that from fertilizer at equivalent rates of mineral N. The manure used in this trial contained mineral N at levels ranging from 41 to 59% of total N (Table 2), so an approximately equal amount of organic N, which is not immediately available, was added with each treatment. The long-term consequences of adding large quantities of organic matter containing N must be assessed. Similarly, the long-term consequences of adding P, K, and other nutrients must also be considered.


   ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 
The authors wish to express their appreciation to R. Blades, J. Forbes, D. Helkenberg, M. Henderson, C. Van Laerhoven, and X. Wu for their technical assistance. We thank also Dr. J. Hall for assistance with the statistical analysis.

Received for publication February 10, 1999.
   REFERENCES
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 Materials and methods
 Results and discussion
 REFERENCES
 




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D. J. R. Cherney, J. H. Cherney, and E. A. Mikhailova
Orchardgrass and Tall Fescue Utilization of Nitrogen from Dairy Manure and Commercial Fertilizer
Agron. J., May 1, 2002; 94(3): 405 - 412.
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