Abstract
AbstractIntensive livestock production and labour‐saving methods of husbandry require the storage and subsequent disposal of large volumes of slurry on land. The effect of pig slurry, applied to a soil surface, on the composition of the soil atmosphere was investigated using laboratory soil columns. When the effect of slurry was compared with equivalent amounts of glucose, results showed that while both energy sources increased microbial activity, slurry also sealed soil pores, slowing gaseous diffusion rates and delaying the return of the composition of the soil atmosphere to that approaching air. Repeated slurry applications completely sealed the soil surface and oxygen in the soil atmosphere was rapidly depleted. Ethylene, capable of harmfully affecting root‐growth, was produced in the anaerobic soil. The fine solids fraction (less than 250 μm particle diameter) of slurry was most effective at blocking soil pores to gaseous diffusion.
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