Assessing Nitrogen Availability in Biobased Fertilizers: Effect of Vegetation on Mineralization Patterns

Hongzhen Luo, Ana A. Robles-Aguilar, Ivona Sigurnjak, Evi Michels and Erik Meers
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Hongzhen Luo: Department of Green Chemistry & Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Ana A. Robles-Aguilar: Department of Green Chemistry & Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Ivona Sigurnjak: Department of Green Chemistry & Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Evi Michels: Department of Green Chemistry & Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Erik Meers: Department of Green Chemistry & Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 9, 1-18

Abstract: Biobased nitrogen (N) fertilizers derived from animal manure can substitute synthetic mineral N fertilizer and contribute to more sustainable agriculture. Practitioners need to obtain a reliable estimation of the biobased fertilizers’ N value. This study compared the estimates for pig slurry (PS) and liquid fraction of digestate (LFD) using laboratory incubation and plant-growing experiments. A no-N treatment was used as control and calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) as synthetic mineral fertilizer. After 100 days of incubation, the addition of PS and LFD resulted in a net N mineralization rate of 10.6 ± 0.3% and 20.6 ± 0.4% of the total applied N, respectively. The addition of CAN showed no significant net mineralization or immobilization (net N release 96 ± 6%). In the pot experiment under vegetation, all fertilized treatments caused N immobilization with a negative net N mineralization rate of −51 ± 11%, −9 ± 4%, and −27 ± 10% of the total applied N in CAN, PS, and LFD treatments, respectively. Compared to the pot experiment, the laboratory incubation without vegetation may have overestimated the N value of biobased fertilizers. Vegetation resulted in a lower estimation of available N from fertilizers, probably due to intensified competition with soil microbes or increased N loss via denitrification.

Keywords: N dynamics; immobilization; maize; incubation; digestate (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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