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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Bowling Green, Kentucky » Food Animal Environmental Systems Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #220136
Title: Evaluation of Pre-plant Swine Effluent Application Methods for Corn Grain Production

Author
item Warren, Jason
item Sistani, Karamat
item SHEARER, SCOTT - UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY
item HIGGINS, STEVE - UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY

Submitted to: ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/8/2007
Publication Date: 11/8/2007
Citation: Warren, J.G., Sistani, K.R., Shearer, S., Higgins, S. 2007. Evaluation of Pre-plant Swine Effluent Application Methods for Corn Grain Production. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts. CD 11/08/2007

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: A field experiment was conducted to evaluate three methods of pre-plant swine effluent application for corn grain production. The methods included surface application with no incorporation, direct injection, and application in combination with soil aeration. Mid-season tissue analyses and corn grain yields suggest that the direct injection and soil aeration application methods allowed for similar N utilization, which was improved compared to surface application of swine effluent. The concentrations of N in ear-leaves collected at mid-silk from treatments receiving injection and aeration applications of swine effluent at a rate of 236 kg N ha-1 were equivalent to that found in treatments receiving 185 kg of N ha-1 at side-dress as inorganic fertilizer. In contrast, the ear-leaf N content of the treatment receiving surface applied swine effluent at an equivalent rate was not significantly elevated above the control treatment, which received no N fertilizer. The improved N utilization resulting from the injection and aeration application of swine effluent likely resulted from decreased NH3 volatilization from these treatments. This improved N utilization allowed for grain yields of 11.7 and 13.2 kg ha-1, for the aeration and injection treatments, whereas surface application produced only 9.7 kg ha-1.