Repeated Manure Application for Eleven Years Stimulates Enzymatic Activities and Improves Soil Attributes in a Typic Hapludalf

Paulo A A Ferreira,Claudio R F S Soares,Samya U Bordallo,Carlos A Ceretta,Mariana V Coronas,Paulo I Gubiani,Glaciela Kaschuk,André Somavilla,Gustavo Boitt,Cledimar R Lourenzi,Sandro J Giacomini,Gustavo Brunetto,Max K L Dantas

doi:10.3390/agronomy11122467

Abstract

Animal manure may be a valuable resource for the development of agricultural sustainability. We proposed to verify the feasibility of applications of three types of animal manures to improve soil attributes and to sustain crop yields under intensive cropping and no-tillage systems. The field experiment was established in 2004 on Typic Hapludalf soil with pig slurry (PS), cattle slurry (CS), pig deep-litter (PL), mineral fertilizer (MF) and a non-fertilized treatment. From 2004 to 2015, were grown black oat, maize, forage turnip, black beans, and wheat. Soil samples were taken after winter 2014 and summer 2015, and submitted to chemical, physical, microbiological and biochemical analyses. Animal manures increased soil pH, but MF caused acidification of soil. The PL and CS applications reduced soil density, and increased total pore volume and hydraulic conductivity. Animal manures increased soil P fractions, total organic carbon, total nitrogen, stimulated soil respiration, and had higher activities of glucosidase and acid phosphatase. Wheat had its biggest dry matter and grain yields with MF, but maize grain yields with CS were higher than MF. All indicators pointed that application of animal manure converges to an interesting strategy to recycle nutrients at farmyard level and to contribute to global sustainability.

Highlights

The P-total was higher in the soil that received Pig deep-litter (PL) applications (Table 2)
There was no difference in the levels of P-organic with the Pig Slurry (PS) and PL in relation to Mineral fertilizer (MF)
The use of organic fertilizer for 11 years showed that it can contribute a lot to the quality of the soil, because it was able to provide increases of up to 22% in carbon contents and this was reflected in the enzymatic activity, which was increased by 52%, in addition to of the impact on N and P stocks

Summary

Introduction

Considering that cattle produce approximately 5.5 kg of dry mass manure per animal per day, with moisture contents varying from 13 to 75% [3], and an adult swine may produce 8.5% of its body weight in manure [4]. When accumulated in one place, it may cause severe environmental pollution, when it moves into water bodies, where eutrophication causes environmental disequilibrium. It is usually deposited in landfilling or spread on agricultural fields, pastures, and tree plantations to decrease environmental pollution, sometimes treated as waste material rather than a valuable resource

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion