Assessing Nitrogen Availability in Biobased Fertilizers: Effect of Vegetation on Mineralization Patterns
Biobased nitrogen (N) fertilizers derived from animal manure can substitute synthetic mineral N fertilizer and contribute to more sustainable agriculture. Practitioners need to obtain a reliable estimation of the biobased fertilizers’ N value. This study compared the estimates for pig slurry (PS) an...
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doaj-32211e8aa6d7431085cdb52a3905038b2021-09-25T23:33:40ZengMDPI AGAgriculture2077-04722021-09-011187087010.3390/agriculture11090870Assessing Nitrogen Availability in Biobased Fertilizers: Effect of Vegetation on Mineralization PatternsHongzhen Luo0Ana A. Robles-Aguilar1Ivona Sigurnjak2Evi Michels3Erik Meers4Department of Green Chemistry & Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, BelgiumDepartment of Green Chemistry & Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, BelgiumDepartment of Green Chemistry & Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, BelgiumDepartment of Green Chemistry & Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, BelgiumDepartment of Green Chemistry & Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, BelgiumBiobased nitrogen (N) fertilizers derived from animal manure can substitute synthetic mineral N fertilizer and contribute to more sustainable agriculture. Practitioners need to obtain a reliable estimation of the biobased fertilizers’ N value. This study compared the estimates for pig slurry (PS) and liquid fraction of digestate (LFD) using laboratory incubation and plant-growing experiments. A no-N treatment was used as control and calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) as synthetic mineral fertilizer. After 100 days of incubation, the addition of PS and LFD resulted in a net N mineralization rate of 10.6 ± 0.3% and 20.6 ± 0.4% of the total applied N, respectively. The addition of CAN showed no significant net mineralization or immobilization (net N release 96 ± 6%). In the pot experiment under vegetation, all fertilized treatments caused N immobilization with a negative net N mineralization rate of −51 ± 11%, −9 ± 4%, and −27 ± 10% of the total applied N in CAN, PS, and LFD treatments, respectively. Compared to the pot experiment, the laboratory incubation without vegetation may have overestimated the N value of biobased fertilizers. Vegetation resulted in a lower estimation of available N from fertilizers, probably due to intensified competition with soil microbes or increased N loss via denitrification.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/9/870N dynamicsimmobilizationmaizeincubationdigestate |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Hongzhen Luo Ana A. Robles-Aguilar Ivona Sigurnjak Evi Michels Erik Meers |
spellingShingle |
Hongzhen Luo Ana A. Robles-Aguilar Ivona Sigurnjak Evi Michels Erik Meers Assessing Nitrogen Availability in Biobased Fertilizers: Effect of Vegetation on Mineralization Patterns Agriculture N dynamics immobilization maize incubation digestate |
author_facet |
Hongzhen Luo Ana A. Robles-Aguilar Ivona Sigurnjak Evi Michels Erik Meers |
author_sort |
Hongzhen Luo |
title |
Assessing Nitrogen Availability in Biobased Fertilizers: Effect of Vegetation on Mineralization Patterns |
title_short |
Assessing Nitrogen Availability in Biobased Fertilizers: Effect of Vegetation on Mineralization Patterns |
title_full |
Assessing Nitrogen Availability in Biobased Fertilizers: Effect of Vegetation on Mineralization Patterns |
title_fullStr |
Assessing Nitrogen Availability in Biobased Fertilizers: Effect of Vegetation on Mineralization Patterns |
title_full_unstemmed |
Assessing Nitrogen Availability in Biobased Fertilizers: Effect of Vegetation on Mineralization Patterns |
title_sort |
assessing nitrogen availability in biobased fertilizers: effect of vegetation on mineralization patterns |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Agriculture |
issn |
2077-0472 |
publishDate |
2021-09-01 |
description |
Biobased nitrogen (N) fertilizers derived from animal manure can substitute synthetic mineral N fertilizer and contribute to more sustainable agriculture. Practitioners need to obtain a reliable estimation of the biobased fertilizers’ N value. This study compared the estimates for pig slurry (PS) and liquid fraction of digestate (LFD) using laboratory incubation and plant-growing experiments. A no-N treatment was used as control and calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) as synthetic mineral fertilizer. After 100 days of incubation, the addition of PS and LFD resulted in a net N mineralization rate of 10.6 ± 0.3% and 20.6 ± 0.4% of the total applied N, respectively. The addition of CAN showed no significant net mineralization or immobilization (net N release 96 ± 6%). In the pot experiment under vegetation, all fertilized treatments caused N immobilization with a negative net N mineralization rate of −51 ± 11%, −9 ± 4%, and −27 ± 10% of the total applied N in CAN, PS, and LFD treatments, respectively. Compared to the pot experiment, the laboratory incubation without vegetation may have overestimated the N value of biobased fertilizers. Vegetation resulted in a lower estimation of available N from fertilizers, probably due to intensified competition with soil microbes or increased N loss via denitrification. |
topic |
N dynamics immobilization maize incubation digestate |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/9/870 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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