Changes in soil acidity and organic carbon in a sandy typic hapludalf after medium-term pig-slurry and deep-litter application

Gustavo Brunetto,Djalma Eugênio Schmitt,Renato Guardini,Marcel Pires De Moraes,Célito Pescador Mezzari,Luciano Colpo Gatiboni,Carlos Alberto Ceretta,Bruno Salvador Oliveira,Jucinei José Comin,Paulo Emilio Lovato

doi:10.1590/s0100-06832012000500026

Abstract

Successive applications of liquid swine waste to the soil can increase the contents of total organic carbon and nutrients and change acidity-related soil chemical properties. However, little information is available on the effects of swine waste application in solid form, as of swine deep-litter. The objective of this study was to evaluate alterations of organic carbon and acidity-related properties of a soil after eight years of pig slurry and deep-litter application. In the eighth year of a field experiment established in Braço do Norte, Santa Catarina (SC) on a sandy Typic Hapludalf samples were taken (layers 0-2.5; 2.5-5; 5-10; 10-15; 15-20 and 20-30 cm) from unfertilized plots and plots with pig slurry or deep-litter applications, providing the simple or double rate of N requirement of Zea mays and Avena strigosa in rotation. Soil total organic carbon, water pH, exchangeable Al, Ca and Mg, and cation exchange capacity (CECeffective and CECpH7.0), H+Al, base saturation, and aluminum saturation were measured. The application of pig slurry and deep-litter for eight years increased total organic carbon and CEC in all soil layers. The pig slurry and deep-litter applications reduced active acidity and aluminum saturation and increased base saturation down to a depth of 30 cm. Eight years of pig slurry application did not affect soil acidity.

Highlights

Pig slurry, resulting from washing pens with water, and deep-litter manure, generated when animals are raised on a bedding layer of organic material, usually consisting of wood shavings or straw, are used as nutrient sources in different crop management systems, including in no-tillage
The contents of total organic carbon (TOC) in the soil of the control and the pig slurry (PS90 and PS180) as well as deep-litter (DL90 and DL 180) treatments were highest in the top soil layer (0-2.5 cm) and decreased in the deeper layers (Table 2)
The greatest TOC contents were found to a depth of 30 cm in PS180, DL90 and DL180, which exceeded the contents in the soil with no manure application and of treatment PS90, which did not differ from each other

Summary

Introduction

Pig slurry, resulting from washing pens with water, and deep-litter manure, generated when animals are raised on a bedding layer of organic material, usually consisting of wood shavings or straw, are used as nutrient sources in different crop management systems, including in no-tillage. Nutrient contents in the soil are expected to increase over the years (Mcdowell et al, 2001; Basso et al, 2005; Gatiboni et al, 2008; Ceretta et al, 2010a,b; Girotto et al, 2010). The chemical properties related to soil acidity are expected to change, e.g., with increases in soil pH and base saturation, as well as a decrease in aluminum saturation (Ceretta et al, 2003; Lourenzi et al, 2011). There is abundant literature on the effects of pig slurry, no information was found about the effects of swine deep-litter on soil acidity parameters

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Conclusion