Abstract
Pig farming produces more manure than can reasonably be spread onto surrounding fields, particularly in regions with high livestock densities and limited land availability. Nutrient recycling offers an attractive solution for dealing with manure excesses and is one main objective of the European commission-funded project “BioEcoSIM”. Phosphate salts (“P-Salt”) were recovered from the separated liquid manure fraction. The solid fraction was dried and carbonized to biochar. This study compared the fertilizing performance of P-Salt and conventional phosphate fertilizer and determined whether additional biochar application further increased biomass yields. The fertilizers and biochar were tested in pot experiments with spring barley and faba beans using two nutrient-poor soils. The crops were fertilized with P-Salt at three levels and biochar in two concentrations. Biomass yield was determined after six weeks. Plant and soil samples were analysed for nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium contents. The P-Salt had similar or even better effects than mineral fertilizer on growth in both crops and soils. Slow release of nutrients can prevent leaching, rendering P-Salt a particularly suitable fertilizer for light sandy soils. Biochar can enhance its fertilizing effect, but the underlying mechanisms need further investigation. These novel products are concluded to be promising candidates for efficient fertilization strategies.
Highlights
European agriculture is currently facing the problem of the accumulation of large amounts of slurry and manure, in regions with high livestock densities, for example northwestGermany, Flanders and the Netherlands
The fertilizers and biochar were tested in pot experiments with spring barley and faba beans using two nutrient-poor soils
The Phosphate salts (P-Salt) used in this study is a complex of struvite, magnesium phosphate and calcium phosphate obtained via the BioEcoSIM process
Summary
European agriculture is currently facing the problem of the accumulation of large amounts of slurry and manure, in regions with high livestock densities, for example northwestGermany, Flanders and the Netherlands. European agriculture is currently facing the problem of the accumulation of large amounts of slurry and manure, in regions with high livestock densities, for example northwest. It has been estimated that if the Netherlands applied its manure up to the allowed amount of phosphate on all its agricultural land, in 2015 there would have still been excess manure containing 40–60 million kg of phosphate [1]. Dealing with these manure and nutrient excesses is becoming an increasingly urgent challenge, and is heightened by the trend towards larger farm sizes as a consequence of increasing economic pressure. Most protein feed used in Europe, for example, is soybean meal, Agriculture 2017, 7, 1; doi:10.3390/agriculture7010001 www.mdpi.com/journal/agriculture
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