Piggery pond sludge as a nitrogen source for crops. 1. Mineral N supply estimated from laboratory incubations and field application of stockpiled and wet sludge
Y. J. Kliese A , R. C. Dalal B D , W. M. Strong C and N. W. Menzies AA School of Land and Food Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia.
B Department of Natural Resources and Mines, 80 Meiers Road, Indooroopilly, Qld 4068, Australia.
C Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Toowoomba, Qld 4350, Australia.
D Corresponding author. Email: Ram.Dalal@nrm.qld.gov.au
Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 56(3) 245-255 https://doi.org/10.1071/AR04187
Submitted: 18 August 2004 Accepted: 17 December 2004 Published: 23 March 2005
Abstract
Piggery pond sludge (PPS) was applied, as-collected (Wet PPS) and following stockpiling for 12 months (Stockpiled PPS), to a sandy Sodosol and clay Vertosol at sites on the Darling Downs of Queensland. Laboratory measures of N availability were carried out on unamended and PPS-amended soils to investigate their value in estimating supplementary N needs of crops in Australia’s northern grains region. Cumulative net N mineralised from the long-term (30 weeks) leached aerobic incubation was described by a first-order single exponential model. The mineralisation rate constant (0.057/week) was not significantly different between Control and PPS treatments or across soil types, when the amounts of initial mineral N applied in PPS treatments were excluded. Potentially mineralisable N (No) was significantly increased by the application of Wet PPS, and increased with increasing rate of application. Application of Wet PPS significantly increased the total amount of inorganic N leached compared with the Control treatments. Mineral N applied in Wet PPS contributed as much to the total mineral N status of the soil as did that which mineralised over time from organic N. Rates of CO2 evolution during 30 weeks of aerobic leached incubation indicated that the Stockpiled PPS was more stabilised (19–28% of applied organic C mineralised) than the Wet PPS (35–58% of applied organic C mineralised), due to higher lignin content in the former. Net nitrate-N produced following 12 weeks of aerobic non-leached incubation was highly correlated with net nitrate-N leached during 12 weeks of aerobic incubation (R2 = 0.96), although it was <60% of the latter in both sandy and clayey soils. Anaerobically mineralisable N determined by waterlogged incubation of laboratory PPS-amended soil samples increased with increasing application rate of Wet PPS. Anaerobically mineralisable N from field-moist soil was well correlated with net N mineralised during 30 weeks of aerobic leached incubation (R2 = 0.90 sandy soil; R2 = 0.93 clay soil). In the clay soil, the amount of mineral N produced from all the laboratory incubations was significantly correlated with field-measured nitrate-N in the soil profile (0–1.5 m depth) after 9 months of weed-free fallow following PPS application. In contrast, only anaerobic mineralisable N was significantly correlated with field nitrate-N in the sandy soil. Anaerobic incubation would, therefore, be suitable as a rapid practical test to estimate potentially mineralisable N following applications of different PPS materials in the field.
Additional keywords: piggery manure, nitrogen mineralisation potentials, aerobic mineralisable N, anaerobic mineralisable N, ammonium-N, nitrate-N.
Acknowledgments
We thank the Pig Research and Development Corporation for financial support, J. Standley, K. Spann, and J. Hagedorn for technical support, J. Cooper and S. Rowlings for field assistance, and K. Bell for statistical advice. We thank the two anonymous reviewers for their excellent suggestions.
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