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a Ministry of Agric. (INTA), Dep. of Soil and Land Evaluation, Centro Colon, San Jose, Costa Rica (formerly Dep. of Agron., Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA)
b Dep. of Agron., Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA 50011-1010
* Corresponding author (jsawyer{at}iastate.edu)
Received for publication October 1, 2004.
| ABSTRACT |
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Abbreviations: COD, chemical oxygen demand STP, soil test phosphorus TKN, total Kjeldahl nitrogen
| INTRODUCTION |
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Anaerobic digestion of animal manure has been extensively investigated during the last two decades (Williams, 1995). During anaerobic digestion, bacteria break down organic matter in an oxygen-free environment, resulting in fewer organic nutrient forms and more inorganic forms. Kirchmann and Lundvall (1993) reported increases of inorganic N (increase less than 10%); however, limited information is available regarding the effect of anaerobic digestion on nutrient content and plant nutrient availability.
Due to a potential increase in the use of anaerobic digestion systems for energy production, there is need for a reliable estimate of plant-available N and P in digested swine manure. Evaluation of digested manure as a crop nutrient source requires determination of the effects of digestion on nutrient content and the ability to provide plant-available nutrients when the material is applied to land.
Nutrient release from manure at a time when crops are not actively assimilating nutrients can cause low nutrient use and poor crop response. Binder et al. (1996) state the importance of synchronizing manure nutrient mineralization with crop use. Also, environmental loss of nutrients can occur when supply exceeds crop demand. One problem in manure management is the uncertainty of organic matter mineralization rate. Specific animal digestion processes (monogastric or ruminant), feed preferences, and rations of different species and overall handling of the manure are responsible for differences in manure nutrient concentrations and effects on availability to plants (Bailey and Buckley, 2001).
To evaluate anaerobically digested swine manure as a plant-available source of N and P, it is important to know how soil application affects STP and influences soil inorganic N levels and transformations, and how it compares with raw manure and inorganic fertilizer nutrient sources. Incubation studies provide information that can reflect field conditions, clarify soil mechanisms and nutrient transformations, and estimate nutrient concentrations in soil after application (Rogers et al., 2001). Our objective was to compare the effect of anaerobically digested liquid swine manure and raw liquid swine manure on extractable soil P and soil inorganic N.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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After thawing and thorough mixing, subsamples of each manure were chemically analyzed at the Iowa State University Analytical Services Laboratory for total Kjeldahl N (TKN), NH4N (measured as NH3N), total K, total P, total solids, volatile solids, COD, and pH (Am. Public Health Assoc., 1995). Chemical characteristics are listed in Table 2.
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Incubation
Treatments were applied to the soil using the following procedure. Moist soil (1 kg, oven-dry basis) was spread on top of a brown paper sheet (40 by 40 cm) in a thin layer. Each treatment was prepared by adding to the fertilizer or manure solution a calculated amount of distilled water that would bring the soil to approximately 80% water-holding capacity. The solution (treatment plus distilled water) was uniformly spread on top of the soil layer and then mixed with the soil by moving up and down the corners of the paper sheet. The treated soil was transferred to a polyethylene bag, mixed again by shaking the bag for about 1 min, and incubated at approximately 22°C on a laboratory bench. The polyethylene bag was left open (50%) to maintain air exchange. Soil moisture was maintained at 80% water-holding capacity by checking the weight each week and adding distilled water as needed.
Two soil subsamples, each 50 g, were collected from each bag by scooping out soil at 1, 7, 14, 28, 56, 84, and 112 d after treatment application. One sample was designated for inorganic N (NH4N and NO2 + NO3N) analysis and the other for routine soil P tests and pH. Hereafter, the NO2 + NO3N concentration is referred to as NO3N. The subsamples for N analysis were stored in polyethylene bags and frozen at 5°C. The other subsamples were air-dried and stored in paper bags at room temperature until analysis.
Soil Analyses
Extractable P was determined with the Olsen P, Bray-1 P, and Mehlich-3 P availability indices (Frank et al., 1998). Changes in extractable P concentrations were estimated by subtracting the STP measured in the control soil at each sampling date. For 7 and 112 d after application, the percentage of added P reflected in the STP increase was calculated as [100 x (STP treatment STP control)/(P applied)], where STP treatment, STP control, and P applied are in mg kg1.
Inorganic N was determined by extracting 10 g of soil (moisture adjusted) with 100 mL of 2 M KCl. The NH4N and NO3N concentration in the extract was determined by automated colorimetric flow-injection analysis (Lachat Instruments, Milwaukee, WI) (Mulvaney, 1996). Extractable NH4N and NO3N in treated soil were corrected by subtracting the concentrations measured in each control soil at each sampling date. Soil pH was determined on a 1:1 water soil paste using an electronic pH meter (Watson and Brown, 1998).
Data were analyzed by using the PROC MIXED procedure of SAS (SAS Inst., 2001). Repeated measure analysis was utilized to take into account sampling the same experimental unit in the comparison of treatment effects (Littell et al., 1998). Significant differences between treatments at a sampling date were determined using TukeyKramer least square means test.
| RESULTS |
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0.05). Soil NH4N concentration was initially high with all N sources (measured at Day 1) and decreased rapidly for the first 14 to 28 d of incubation (Fig. 1)
. During this period, NH4N concentration was significantly higher with the fertilizer than both manure sources at rates of 150 and 200 mg N kg1 but the same for all sources at the lower application rates. Raw and digested manure resulted in statistically the same NH4N concentrations at each application rate and all sample dates. After 14 to 28 d of incubation, extractable soil NH4N concentration returned to the background level and was the same for all N sources.
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Soil pH
The source x rate x time interaction was significant for soil pH (P
0.05). Initially after application, soil pH was increased with application of raw and digested manure (Fig. 2)
but not with fertilizer. Soil pH decreased rapidly after Day 1 for the first 14 to 28 d of incubation, depending on application rate. The soil pH decrease was the same for both raw and digested manure, but the decrease was not as large as with the fertilizer (Fig. 2). After 28 d, soil pH decreased slowly with each manure source, was relatively constant with the fertilizer source, and remained lower with fertilizer compared with manure.
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0.05) (Fig. 3)
. Also, the interaction with sample date was significant for the Olsen P and Mehlich-3 P tests (P
0.05) but not for Bray-1 P (P = 0.064).
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Application rate did not affect P recovery from the three P sources (measured as percentage increase in extractable P). However, the source x sampling date x STP method interaction was significant (P
0.05). This is evident with greater recovery for the inorganic fertilizer with all three tests even though the percentage increase in the Olsen P test was lower than the other two soil P tests (Table 3). Also, the mean increase was the same for both manure sources, except for the Mehlich-3 test at Day 7 where the recovery was greater with digested manure.
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| DISCUSSION |
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At 1 d after application, extractable NH4N concentration was increased, but NO3N concentration was not different than the control for all treatments. This indicates that the dominant inorganic N form applied for all sources was NH4, with no NO3 present in either manure source. Kirchmann and Lundvall (1993), working with raw and digested swine manure, observed no NO3N and 75 to 85% of N as NH4N, respectively. This is similar to our findings. The rapid decrease in extractable NH4N and concurrent increase in NO3N is a result of nitrification. The inorganic N transformation and time period for conversion are similar to those with liquid beef manure found by Schmitt et al. (1992) when incubated in a manuresoil mix and by Sawyer and Hoeft (1990a)(1990b) with simulated band injection. These results are also consistent with studies of N mineralization and transformation from sources with varying organic content (Chae and Tabatabai, 1986; Kirchmann and Lundvall, 1993; Duffera et al., 1999).
The maximum net extractable soil NO3N with both raw and digested manure at all N application rates was only 80% of applied total N. However, the maximum net extractable soil NO3N with fertilizer accounted for nearly 100% of applied N. This reflects the lower proportion of total N as NH4N initially present in the manure sources (Table 2) and explains why the fertilizer responded with a greater immediate supply of plant-available N (Fig. 1). Despite high NH4 in both manures, a pool of organic N continued mineralizing during incubation, releasing NH4 that also quickly nitrified. Thus, extractable soil NO3N continued to increase whereas NH4N did not. However, in the 112 d of incubation, there was not an equivalent release of total N as inorganic N from the manure sources, as occurred for the inorganic fertilizer. Thus, some organic N apparently was not mineralized in 112 d. Other possible reasons for lower inorganic N accumulation include manure N volatilization during application and soil mixing, inorganic N assimilation into microbial biomass, or denitrification losses during incubation (Bernal and Kirchmann, 1992; Calderón et al., 2004; Chantigny et al., 2004). Change in extractable soil inorganic N in the first 7 d was the same for both manure sources and the control (+3 mg N kg1 with manure and +4 mg N kg1 for the control) and for fertilizer and manure after 112 d (+58 mg N kg1 for manure and +61 mg N kg1 for fertilizer). After 112 d of incubation, net inorganic N increase was 19 mg N kg1 greater with manure and fertilizer N application than for the control. This indicates net mineralization with all N sources. Despite much lower COD after digestion (Table 2), there was no difference in inorganic N production or net mineralization between raw and digested manure.
The pH of soil treated with both manure sources showed an initial increase followed by a rapid decrease for the first 28 d of incubation (Fig. 2). Initial increase in soil pH has been reported with application of anaerobically digested and stored liquid swine manure, with increase due to manure alkalinity and carbonates (Chantigny et al., 2004). Higher pH would increase NH3N and potential for surface volatilization. Soil pH decline paralleled the nitrification process (Fig. 1), during which an acidifying effect due to proton formation occurs (Bernal and Kirchmann, 1992). Soil pH was low enough at the highest application rates to potentially slow nitrification. The smaller decrease in pH found for soil treated with raw and digested manure (Fig. 2) could be caused by buffering from manure organic and inorganic components (Fordham and Schwertmann, 1977; Sommer and Husted, 1995), lower nitrification rate, mineralization of manure organic N, or use of ammonium sulfate in the fertilizer.
Swine manure contains a variety of inorganic and organic P compounds, with reported organic P fractions of 10 to 75% of total P (Gerritse and Zugec, 1977; Reddy et al., 1980; Sharpley and Moyer, 2000; He and Honeycutt, 2001). Organic P forms are also mineralized at different rates. Anaerobic digestion of the swine manure used in our study apparently did not alter the manure to an extent that affected P available to increase STP. Figure 3 shows only a few exceptions (A1, A2, A3, and C2) where differences in STP were evident between the two manure sources. Compared with inorganic fertilizer P application (where 100% of the P was orthophosphate), smaller increases in STP were measured within 28 d of application for both manures. A similar differential in initial STP increase (with greater increase in Mehlich-3 STP from inorganic P compared with manure P) was found by Griffin et al. (2003) with swine manure applied to a sandy loam soil.
Mineralization and adsorption govern net P trends and soil test increases when soils are amended with P (Taylor et al., 1978). Over time, manure P will undergo both processes whereas inorganic fertilizer (orthophosphates) would be influenced primarily by adsorption. The initial increase in STP was greater with the fertilizer P addition than with either manure. However, after 28 d, the extractable levels were similar for all sources. When inorganic P is added, all of the P is immediately available for soil chemical reactions or for soil test extraction; therefore, the speed of soil interactions will govern the STP measured. Manure has a mix of inorganic P and organic P forms (Poulsen, 2000; He and Honeycutt, 2001); therefore, P available to immediately influence STP is different than inorganic sources, and the P available to interact with the soil is also different than inorganic sources. From this, the initial increase in STP should be smaller with manure, as was measured in our study. However, the slower supply from the manure organic P pool may help to maintain a more constant level of plant-available P or STP, as compared with the inorganic fertilizer P, as also measured in the present study. Such a sustained contribution to STP over time was also reported for swine manure application in incubation studies by Griffin et al. (2003) and Laboski and Lamb (2003). In the Laboski and Lamb (2003) study, swine-finishing manure applied at rates simulating an injected band (144 and 288 mg P kg1) resulted in sustained STP levels from 1 to 9 mo, contrasted to a decrease with fertilizer P.
As the rate of application increased, extractable P also increased among all sources (Fig. 3). This is consistent with work by Reddy et al. (1980) and Laboski and Lamb (2003) where increase in manure application rate increased plant-available P. However, in terms of percentage increase in extractable P, no consistent differences between application rates were found. The three soil P tests predicted similar estimates of the increase in STP with manure amendment (Table 3). Because of the greater inorganic P content, fertilizer application showed a greater increase in STP, similar to results of Baxter et al. (1998). After 112 d, the percentage of applied P measured in STP increase averaged 30 to 40% for the inorganic fertilizer and 15 to 30% for both manure sources. These are more similar than expected considering the differing P sources.
| CONCLUSIONS |
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| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| REFERENCES |
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