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Nitrogen dynamics following slurry injection in maize: crop development

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Abstract

Using pig slurry as starter fertilizer for maize (Zea mays L.), injected below the row prior to planting is a reasonable way to omit application of additional mineral fertilizer in areas with intensive animal farming. However, delayed early growth and a lack of knowledge on nutrient availability limit the interest of farmers. To extenuate farmers concerns a field trial was conducted in 2014 and 2015 to get detailed information on nitrogen (N) uptake, the subsequent influences on crop growth at different vegetative growth stages and final yield of silage maize. Besides an unfertilized control, two liquid manure injection treatments (without and with nitrification inhibitor [NI]) were compared to slurry broadcast application + mineral N and phosphorus (P) starter fertilizer at planting (MSF). In 2014, NI treatment yields increased (+16.5%) and N uptake increased (+9.6%) compared to broadcast treatment. In 2015, cold and dry conditions during early growth limited P plant availability and reduced crop growth in treatments without MSF. However, when a NI was added to the slurry prior to application, plants showed less P deficiency symptoms and better growth. At harvest no differences between the fertilized treatments were observed. In both years apparent N recovery was increased when manure was injected (48% without, and 56% with NI, respectively) compared to broadcast application of manure (43%) indicating that N losses were lower. However, further knowledge on soil N transformation and N loss pathways in systems with slurry injection is needed.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the German Federal Environmental Foundation (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt DBU) for financing this research within the project “Optimizing nitrogen and phosphorus use efficiencies from liquid manure by injection to reduce environmental pollution” (Grant 30364/01). EuroChem Agro GmbH, Mannheim, thankfully granted additional support. We are grateful to the field technicians and students who did magnificent work, Elke Nagel, Maren Johannes and Yvonne Garlich in the laboratory, as well as Hans-Georg Schön and Herbert Pralle for their assistance with the statistical analysis.

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  1. Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Landscape Architecture, Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences, Am Krümpel 31, 49090, Osnabrück, Germany

    Carl-Philipp Federolf, Matthias Westerschulte, Hans-Werner Olfs & Dieter Trautz

  2. Institute of Geography, University of Osnabrück, Seminarstraße 19 a/b, 49074, Osnabrück, Germany

    Carl-Philipp Federolf, Matthias Westerschulte & Gabriele Broll

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  1. Carl-Philipp Federolf
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Correspondence to Carl-Philipp Federolf.

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Federolf, CP., Westerschulte, M., Olfs, HW. et al. Nitrogen dynamics following slurry injection in maize: crop development. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 107, 19–31 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-016-9813-y

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