Abstract
Abstract: The objective of this work was to evaluate soil chemical attributes, leaf nitrogen content, and corn and wheat yields under a no-tillage system in response to the application of organic, organomineral, and mineral fertilizers with or without urease and nitrification inhibitors. The experiment was carried out on the field, with one wheat and two corn crops, on a Rhodic Kandiudox, in a randomized complete block design with six replicates. The evaluated treatments were: control, without fertilization; O, poultry litter as an organic fertilizer; O+I, poultry litter and inhibitors; OM, organomineral fertilizer; OM+I, organomineral fertilizer and inhibitors; U, urea as a mineral fertilizer; and U+I, super urea with the urease inhibitor alone. The use of organic, organomineral, and mineral fertilizers, with or without inhibitors, increased available N content in the 0.00-0.05-m soil layer. In deeper layers, only OM+I in the 0.05-0.10-m layer and U+I in the 0.10-0.20-m layer provided higher contents than the control treatment. Leaf N contents were adequate, regardless of the fertilizer used. The O, O+I, OM, and OM+I treatments increase available P content and base saturation, and decrease H+Al on soil surface. Moreover, all fertilizers increase total grain yield of the two studied crops, in the following order: OM+I > U+I ≥ U > OM ≥ O+I ≥ O.
Highlights
Strategic actions are needed in Brazil to develop technologies that enable the reuse of poultry litter as organic or organomineral fertilizers, since about 5.5 billion broiler poultry were slaughtered in 2015/2016 and there is a growth forecast up to 2020 (Brasil, 2010)
It is estimated that 16,243,286 tons of poultry litter are produced annually in the country (Schneider et al, 2012), which can provide numerous benefits to soil physical, chemical, and biological properties if used to technical criteria (Hirzel et al, 2007; Cassity‐Duffey et al, 2015; Mafra et al, 2015)
Using N fertilizers with urease and nitrification inhibitors could boost the content of available N in the soil and, increase nutrient recovery efficiency by providing a better balance between the N mineralization and nitrification processes (Muller et al, 2011)
Summary
Strategic actions are needed in Brazil to develop technologies that enable the reuse of poultry litter as organic or organomineral fertilizers, since about 5.5 billion broiler poultry were slaughtered in 2015/2016 and there is a growth forecast up to 2020 (Brasil, 2010). Poultry litter is the most widely used organic fertilizer. Organomineral, and mineral fertilizers with urease and nitrification in South Brazil due to its abundance, price, and ease of handling. Using N fertilizers with urease and nitrification inhibitors could boost the content of available N in the soil and, increase nutrient recovery efficiency by providing a better balance between the N mineralization and nitrification processes (Muller et al, 2011). Few studies have compared the efficiency of organomineral fertilizers with that of mineral ones. Researches on technologies using urease and nitrification inhibitors in the formulation of organomineral fertilizers from poultry litter are still scarce
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