Field‐Scale Evaluation of Biosolids‐Derived Organomineral Fertilizers Applied to Winter Wheat in England

Abstract

Field-scale experiments in four crop seasons established the agronomic performance of biosolids-derived organomineral fertilizers (OMF) for winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production in England. Two OMF formulations (OMF 10 10:4:4 and OMF 15 15:4:4) were compared with urea and biosolids granules (≈5:6:0.2) to determine crop responses and fertilizer eff ects on soil chemical properties. Fertilizers were applied at N rates between 0 and 250 kg ha -1 at regular increments of 50 kg ha -1 N. Average grain yields with OMF 10 and OMF 15 were higher than with biosolids granules, but lower than with urea (P < 0.05). Th e optimum N application rates, and corresponding grain yields, were 245 and 7900 kg ha -1 for biosolids, 257 and 9100 kg ha -1 for OMF 10 , 249 and 9500 kg ha -1 for OMF 15 , and 225 and 10350 kg ha -1 for urea, respectively. Diff erences in grain yield between fertilizer treatments were explained by diff erences in yield components, particularly number of grains and thousand-grain-weight. Grain-N recoveries were 31% for biosolids, ≈40% for OMF, and 52% for urea. Organomineral fertilizers-induced changes in soil extractable P and soil P Index were not signifi cant. Th us, application of OMF replenished P offt ake by the crop and therefore supported the choice of the proposed OMF formulations. By contrast, extractable P increased in biosolids and decreased in urea-treated soils, respectively. Heavy metals in soil were unaff ected by fertilizer treatment and lower than permissible limit values. Th e use of OMF for winter wheat production appears to be a sustainable approach to recycling biosolids to land.

Biosolids and biochar application effects on bahiagrass herbage accumulation and nutritive value

“…Previous research suggested that bahiagrass herbage accumulation has been shown to be restricted under shorter‐photoperiod winter months in Florida (Mislevy & Everett, 1981). Similarly, the cooler temperatures were also not conducive to mineralization of organic N present in biosolids, which could potentially affect N availability for the crop and subsequent yield potential (Antille et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2003).…”

“…A significant body of literature has demonstrated numerous agronomic benefits associated with land application of biosolids to pastures (Adjei & Rechcigl, 2002; Barbarick, Doxtader, Redente, & Brobst, 2004; Sigua et al., 2005). Land application of biosolids to perennial pasture provides essential plant nutrients and organic matter and serve as a liming agent to acid pasture soils (Adjei & Rechcigl, 2002; Antille et al., 2017; Avery et al., 2018; Liu, Fike, Galbraith, & Fike, 2015a, 2015b; Sigua et al., 2005; Tiffany et al., 2001a, 2001b). Research demonstrated that when applied at equivalent N rates, biosolids resulted in either similar or greater forage production as inorganic fertilizer (Adjei & Rechcigl, 2002).…”

Compost Amended with N Enhances Maize Productivity and Soil Properties in Semi‐Arid Agriculture

“…In most cases, crop yield is the generic function of N supply from both soil and the applied fertilizer source. Under suboptimal N fertility conditions, combining both chemical and organic fertilization may ensure slow but steady release of nutrients to ensure higher farm productivity in semiarid agriculture, and this is especially the case for N. Such crop responses also suggest that the occurrence of N‐related stress before anthesis is reduced by the slow release nature of applied fertilizer, leading to improvements in grain yield (Antille et al, 2017).…”

&lt;i&gt;Agronomic performance of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and fertiliser use efficiency as affected by controlled and non-controlled traffic of farm machinery&lt;/i&gt;

“…Yield-to-nitrogen response relationships were examined by applying nonlinear regression analyses, and by fitting quadratic functions to the data (Abraham and Rao, 1966). The approach used in this work is from studies (e.g., Kachanoski, 2009;Antille et al, 2017) dealing with cereal crop responses to applied N fertilizer, and assumes a quadratic-plateau relationship. Crop's gross margin (GM) was estimated as the difference between gross income (GI) and total variable costs (TVC) (Galambošová et al, 2017).…”