Abstract
Co-pyrolysis of animal manure biomass with bone meal (BM) and soaking of the resultant biochar in urea containing solutions may offer a sustainable and cheap way of formulating slow-release nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilisers. This method can lead to optimisation of the carbon sequestration capacity of the biochar, abatement of environmental pollution by P and N and alleviation of the severity of the projected future scarcity of P. A few studies have indicated that sorption can create efficient slow-release fertilisers although all of them utilised charged moieties such as ammonium ions to formulate them and as a result, there is a paucity of data concerning the efficiency of fertilisers formulated using uncharged compounds like urea. It’s against that background that we examined the possibility of leveraging co-pyrolysis and sorption with urea containing solutions to formulate slow-release N and P fertilisers along with assessing the agronomic efficiency of the formulated fertilisers through cultivating lettuce in pots for two seasons. Both urea-hydrogen peroxide (UHP) and urea were utilised as N sources. UHP (CDBM-UHP) and urea (CDBM-Urea) containing biochars averagely released 64.40% and 87.00% of the added N, respectively over the 28-day incubation period with the amount of N released decreasing with increasing concentrations of BM in the biochar. Lettuce yields and nutrient use efficiencies of N and P were higher in the CDBM-UHP than in the CDBM-Urea treatments. It’s therefore clear that sorption of UHP by BM containing biochar concomitantly slows-down releases of N and P and boosts the agronomic efficiency of the fertilisers.
Highlights
Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are irreplaceable nutrient elements in the sustenance of agricultural production systems and life in general [1]
Disposal of manure has increasingly become a problem, prompting farmers to stockpile it under uncontrolled conditions something that hastens its decay resultantly magnifying the emissions of ammonia and other harmful gases like methane and nitrous oxide [10, 11]
based slow-release N fertilisers (BFs) formulated from cow dung co-pyrolysed with bone meal (BM) released far less N than those made out of cow dung co-pyrolysed with triple super phosphate (TSP)
Summary
Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are irreplaceable nutrient elements in the sustenance of agricultural production systems and life in general [1]. Their usage for supporting plant growth has been growing since the green revolution. Whereas the N to P ratios of most plant biomass average to around 8:1, those of animal manure do not exceed 4:1, the application of livestock manure at optimal N crop requirements portends P accumulation in the soil [6]—with possible contamination of groundwater through leaching or eutrophication of open water sources through surface runoff [7, 8]. Disposal of manure has increasingly become a problem, prompting farmers to stockpile it under uncontrolled conditions something that hastens its decay resultantly magnifying the emissions of ammonia and other harmful gases like methane and nitrous oxide [10, 11]
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