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Effect of Dairy Manure and Anaerobically Digested Manure and Method of Application on Yield and Nitrogen Uptake of Grass

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  International Symposium on Air Quality and Manure Management for Agriculture Conference Proceedings, 13-16 September 2010, Dallas, Texas  711P0510cd.(doi:10.13031/2013.32695)
Authors:   Elizabeth M Whitefield, Joseph H Harrison, Andrew Bary, Olivia Saunders, Craig Cogger, Ann Marie Fortuna
Keywords:   Key words: anaerobic digester, nitrogen uptake, dairy manure, land application,

Two forms of manure: Anaerobically digested (AD) effluent (AD-Ef after liquid solids separation post AD) and raw manure (non-AD) were land applied to grass to determine nitrogen (N) uptake and yield. The AD-Ef (2% solids) resulted from the anaerobic digestion of dairy manure (4% solids; 80% of total input) and varying feedstocks (whey, ruminant blood, chicken DAF, egg waste; 20% of total input). The ammonia-N (NH4-N) content in the non AD manure was 37% of the total N, while 63% of the total N content in the AD-Ef was NH4-N. Manure was applied by surface broadcast (SB) or subsurface deposition (SSD) to replicated plots (n=4) in a complete randomized block design. Specific treatments were: control (no added nutrients), urea (4.9 Kg applied per plot/year at a rate of 112 Kg N/ha), non-AD + SB, non-AD SSD, AD-Ef-SB, and AD-Ef-SSD. The data shown are for the 1st year of application. The total N application rates are as follows: AD-Ef 103 514/ha of total N and 337 Kg/year/ha of NH4-N; non-AD - 479 Kg/year/ha of total N and 248 Kg of NH4-N/year/ha. There were no significant differences through 4th cutting in forage yield or N uptake due to application method or manure type. The plots with urea fertilizer had a significantly higher cumulative average forage yield/ha through 4th cutting (5555 Kg) compared to AD-Ef SB and SSD (5040 and 4546 Kg/ha, respectively) and non-AD manure SB and SSD (4973 and 5040 Kg/ha, respectively). The plots treated with urea had a significantly higher forage N uptake (225kg/ha) in the cumulative first three cumulative cuttings of the season compared to the non-AD SB and SSD, post AD-Ef SB and SSD (193,183,192 and 177 kg/ha respectively). Preliminary results of this 3 year study suggest that AD-Ef and non-AD manure support equal grass production when applied at equal amounts of total N.

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