Abstract
Ryegrass was grown, in pots under controlled-environment conditions, on soil mixed with each of ten slurries, eight from dairy farms and two from pig farms. In addition, ryegrass was grown under the same conditions but with the water-insoluble material separated from each slurry. Incorporation of the whole slurries increased the yield of herbage, the concentration of N in the herbage and N uptake, compared with plants grown on soil alone, the effects being greatest at the first of six successive harvests. In contrast, incorporation of the water-insoluble material of the cattle slurries decreased herbage yield and N uptake, particularly at the first harvest, but the water-insoluble material of the pig slurries produced some increase in herbage yield and N uptake.
The results indicate that the water-insoluble material of the cattle slurries immobilized N that would otherwise have been available from the water-soluble fraction of the whole slurries and/or from the soil. The recovery by the ryegrass of the water-soluble N from the whole slurries was closely correlated with the concentration of N in the water-insoluble material (r=0.863***) and negatively correlated with the C∶N ratio (r=0.892***). Correlations between the recovery of the water-soluble N and the concentrations of N in five particle size fractions of the water-insoluble material indicated that the fraction of smallest particle size (<0.2 mm) had the greatest effect.
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Whitehead, D.C., Bristow, A.W. & Pain, B.F. The influence of some cattle and pig slurries on the uptake of nitrogen by ryegrass in relation to fractionation of the slurry N. Plant Soil 117, 111–120 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02206263
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02206263