Impact of slurry management strategies on potential leaching of nutrients and pathogens in a sandy soil amended with cattle slurry

Abstract

For farmers, management of cattle slurry (CS) is now a priority, in order to improve the fertilizer value of the slurry and simultaneously minimize its environmental impact. Several slurry pre-treatments and soil application methods to minimize ammonia emissions are now available to farmers, but the impact of such management strategies on groundwater is still unclear. A laboratory experiment was performed over 24 days in controlled conditions, with undisturbed soil columns (sandy soil) in PVC pipes (30 cm high and 5.7 cm in diameter). The treatments considered (4 replicates) were: a control with no amendment (CTR), injection of whole CS (WSI), and surface application of: whole CS (WSS), acidified (pH 5.5) whole CS (AWSS), the liquid fraction obtained by centrifugation of CS (LFS), and acidified (pH 5.5) liquid fraction (ALFS). An amount of CS equivalent to 240 kg N ha−1 was applied in all treatments. The first leaching event was performed 72 h after application of the treatments and then leaching events were performed weekly to give a total of four irrigation events (IEs). All the leachates obtained were analyzed for mineral and organic nitrogen, electrical conductivity (EC), pH, total carbon, and phosphorus. Total coliforms and Escherichia coli were also quantified in the leachates obtained in the first IE.The results show that both acidification and separation had significant effects on the composition of the leachates: higher NO3− concentrations were observed for the LFS and ALFS relative to all the other treatments, throughout the experiment, and lower NO3− concentrations were observed for acidified relative to non-acidified treatments at IE2. Acidification of both the LF and WS led to higher NH4+ concentrations as well as an increase of EC for treatment ALFS relative to the control, in the first IE, and lower pH values in the AWSS. Furthermore, the E. coli and total coliform concentrations in AWSS, LFS, and ALFS were significantly higher than in WSI or WSS. In conclusion, none of the strategies generally used to minimize ammonia emissions impact positively on leaching potential relative to the traditional surface application of CS. Furthermore, some treatments, such as separation, might increase significantly the risk of leaching.