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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Florence, South Carolina » Coastal Plain Soil, Water and Plant Conservation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #418103
Research Project: Innovative Manure Treatment Technologies and Enhanced Soil Health for Agricultural Systems of the Southeastern Coastal Plain

Location: Coastal Plain Soil, Water and Plant Conservation Research

Title: Agronomic effectiveness of nitrogen and phosphorus recovered from swine manure

Author
item Paye, Wooiklee
item HERRERO, RAUL - Miguel Hernandez University
item Vanotti, Matias
item SZOGI, ARIEL - Retired ARS Employee
item Read, Quentin

Submitted to: Soil Science Society of America Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/29/2024
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: There is an increasing call to adopt a circular approach to nutrient management by recycling nutrients from agricultural wastes. This has resulted in the development of new technologies that can recover nitrogen and phosphorus from animal manure in a concentrated form, which can then be returned to the farm as substitutes for commercial fertilizers. This greenhouse study evaluated the agronomic effectiveness of concentrated nitrogen and phosphorus recovered from swine manure versus commercial nitrogen (urea) and phosphorus (triple super phosphate) fertilizers using different nutrient combinations. Annual ryegrass was used as the test crop. The results demonstrated that the combination of recovered nitrogen and phosphorus was an effective fertilizer blend for substituting conventional nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers. This finding is important for advancing the new circular nutrient economy.

Technical Abstract: New technologies have been developed to extract and recover manure nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) that can be upcycled as substitutes for conventional fertilizers. Yet, there are uncertainties over the agronomic effectiveness of these recovered nutrients. In a greenhouse study, we evaluated annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) response to recovered N (RN), conventional N (CN), recovered P (RP), and conventional P (CP) in four nutrient combinations: CN+CP, RN+CP, CN+RP, and RN+RP at five N rates: 0,23,46,92, and 184 mg N kg-1 soil; and three P rates: 0,39, and 78 mg P kg-1 soil. Results showed a synergistic response to N and P, where dry matter yield and nutrient uptake increased with both nutrients application. Under conventional P, ryegrass supplied with 92 and 184 mg kg-1 of conventional N produced 16 – 35% more yield than recovered N. In contrast, ryegrass yield under recovered P was 17 – 114% greater with recovered N than conventional N. Ryegrass yield under conventional N was 17% greater with conventional P than recovered P at 78 mg P kg-1 soil, but recovered P produced 27 – 66% more yield than conventional P under recovered N. There was no difference in soil residual N between the two N sources, but recovered P had significantly less residual soil P than conventional P. The combination of recovered N and P was an effective fertilizer blend for substituting conventional N and P. This finding is critical for the advancement of the new circular nutrient economy.