Manure Nitrogen Availability: Dairy Manure in Northeast and Central U.S. Soils

Abstract

Accurate prediction of nitrogen (N) availability from manure is required for efficient utilization of this resource in crop production. This study was conducted to evaluate the impacts of temperature, water regime and selected soils on N availability from a liquid dairy (Bas taurus) manure. Two Maine soils [Caribou sandy loam (fine-loamy, mixed, frigid Typic Haplorthod) and 'Newport' loam (unnamed variant of a Bangor silt loam; coarse-loamy, mixed, frigid Typic Haplorthod)] and an Illinois soil [Catlin silt loam (fine-silty, mixed, superactive, mesic Oxyaquic Arguidoll)l were incubated in the laboratory at ll, 18 and 25"C under constant (60% water filled pore space, WFPS) and fluctuating (60 to 30% WFPS) water regimes, with and without dairy manure in a factorial arrangement. Ammonium concentrations increased immediately upon manure addition and declined thereafter as nitrate levels increased. Elevated No,-levels reflected nitrification of NH; added in the manure, with little additional net mineralization of manure organic N. Temperature strongly influenced NO,-concentration over time, but this effect could be described with the thermal unit (degree day) concept. The fluctuating water regime had no significant impact on manure-derived NO,-. Changes in manure NO,-over thermal time could be described with a single exponential equation. However, less manure NO,-was observed in an Illinois soil than in two Maine soils. Separate particle size analysis and microbial community assessments indicate higher N immobilization potential in the Illinois soil. Because soil type strongly impacted N availability, it is clear that additional soils with ranges in several physical, chemical and biological properties should be investigated to quantify these relationships with manure N availability.

Mineralization of Nitrogen in Soils Amended with Dairy Manure as Affected by Wetting/Drying Cycles

“…The amount of ammonium produced was not significantly higher in the soil containing manure compared to that of unamended soils. This result differs from that reported by Honeycutt, Griffin, and He (2005), who used dairy manure in their study, and is probably because dairy compost was used in this study and the NH 4 had already undergone nitrification (NH 4 conversion to NO 3 ) or had been volatilized. In the succeeding text, the amount of inorganic N is expressed as the sum of NH 4 and NO 3 .…”

“…Unlike results reported by Honeycutt, Griffin, and He (2005), who performed a similar experiment, we did not observe N immobilization in the Catlin soil. They reported that soil with higher clay and silt contents showed greater N immobilization when amended with dairy manure compared to the other soils.…”

Winter and growing season nitrogen mineralization from fall-applied composted or stockpiled solid dairy manure

“…The same soil was studied since mineralization varies among soils (Honeycutt et al 2005 (Richard 2005) and that 400 g N (kg total N) -1 would be mineralized from manure (Eghball and Power 1999). We used these assumed values to determine each year's application rates of solid manure (never a slurry) and compost.…”

Net Nitrogen Mineralization from Past Years' Manure and Fertilizer Applications

“…Many laboratory studies have evaluated mineralization rates at optimal soil water contents and temperatures for diff erent soils or manures (Chae and Tabatabai, 1986;Qian and Schoenau, 2002;Van Kessel and Reeves, 2002;Griffi n et al, 2005;Honeycutt et al, 2005;Azeez and Van Averbeke, 2010;Miller et al, 2010). Unfortunately, N mineralization rates derived from laboratory incubations generally overestimate rates measured in the fi eld (Adams and Attiwill, 1986;Honeycutt, 1999;Sistani et al, 2008).…”