Response of maize yield, nitrate leaching, and soil nitrogen to pig slurry combined with mineral nitrogen

Soil Fertility and Phosphorus Leaching in Irrigated Calcareous Soils of the Mediterranean Region

To ensure soil quality and soil health, it is necessary to improve fertilization practices while minimizing environmental impacts. The aim of this study was to record the state of the art on soil fertility related to fertilization management (organic and/or mineral) and to detect environmental challenges in highly productive fields. A soil survey was set up in a new irrigated area (c. 20 years old), in the north-eastern part of Spain, which is mainly devoted to double annual crop rotations of cereals and maize. The area also supports an important animal rearing activity. The survey covered 733 ha of calcareous soils, owned by 35 farmers. At each farm, fertilization management was recorded, and soil was analyzed for nutrients and heavy metals. Multivariate analyses were performed. Total N, P, Cu and Zn, and available P, Cu, Zn and Mn soil concentrations were associated to the use of organic amendments. Heavy metals concentrations were below established thresholds. Available P (Olsen-P) was identified as an indicator of the previously adopted fertilization management and of the potential of P leaching towards deeper soil layers. Regression analyses were performed. A displacement of available P from the uppermost layer (0-0.3 m) occurs in the breakpoint of 86 mg P kg-1 soil. Preventative actions might be established from 53 mg P kg-1 soil due to the slowdown in P immobilization. Our results reinforce the importance of setting up P threshold soil levels for best practices of fertilization, as a basis for sustainable agriculture intensification.

Enhancement of cadmium accumulation in sweet sorghum as affected by nitrate

The Cadmium (Cd)-polluted soils are is an increasing concern worldwide. Phytoextraction of Cd pollutants by high biomass plants, such as sweet sorghum, is considered an environmentally-friendly, cost-effective and sustainable strategy for remediating this problem. Nitrogen (N) is a macronutrient essential for plant growth, development and stress resistance. Nevertheless, how nitrate, as an important form of N, affects Cd uptake, translocation and accumulation in sweet sorghum is still unclear. In the present study, a series of nitrate levels (N1, 0.5 mm; N2, 2 mm; N3, 4 mm; N4, 8 mm and N5, 16 mm) with or without added 5 μm CdCl₂ treatment in sweet sorghum was investigated hydroponically. The results indicate that Cd accumulation in the aboveground parts of sweet sorghum was enhanced by optimum nitrate supply, resulting from both increased dry weight and Cd concentration. Although root-to-shoot Cd translocation was not enhanced by increased nitrate, some Cd was transferred from cell walls to vacuoles in leaves. Intriguingly, expression levels of Cd uptake and transport genes, SbNramp1, SbNramp5 and SbHMA3, were not closely related to increased Cd as affected by nitrate supply. The expression of SbNRT1.1B in relation to nitrate transport showed an inverted 'U' shape with increasing nitrate levels under Cd stress, which was in agreement with trends in Cd concentration changes in aboveground tissues. Based on the aforementioned results, nitrate might regulate Cd uptake and accumulation through expression of SbNRT1.1B rather than SbNramp1, SbNramp5 or SbHMA3, the well-documented genes related to Cd uptake and transport in sweet sorghum.

Assessment of Nitrate Hazards in Umbria Region (Italy) Using Field Datasets: Good Agriculture Practices and Farms Sustainability

The Nitrates Directive, EU 91/676/EEC, obliged all European Union member states to introduce laws that guarantee the use of proper agriculture and farm methods, with the aim to reduce pollution resulting from the excessive use of nitrates. In this work, we estimated the potential and effective nitrogen load from agriculture, farms, civil, and industrial sources in Umbria region, Italy, and assessed the previous (and actual) contamination by nitrates at different scales. The adopted methodology uses databases of the sources, such as the type of fertilizer (inorganic or manure), the type of industrial site, the census of livestock and field data at a local, basin, and regional scale. Hydrological and geological models are used to compute infiltration. The study shows that the contribution of farms to nitrate pollution is in the order of swine > cattle > sheep and goats; while the highest agricultural load is due to arable land, followed by olive and grape. The study also shows that municipalities that have values of nitrates over the threshold for both groundwater and surface water can rapidly change their status during consecutive years. This means that rules for farm sustainability, complying with the Nitrates Directive, EU 91/676/EEC, should be defined at a sub-basin scale, where the hydrogeological conditions strongly influence infiltration.

Residual and cumulative effects of soil application of sewage sludge on corn productivity

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of frequent and periodic applications of sewage sludge to the soil, on corn productivity. The experiment was carried out as part of an experiment that has been underway since 1999, using two types of sludge. One came from the Barueri Sewage Treatment Station (BS, which receives both household and industrial sludge) and the other came from the Franca Sewage Treatment Station (FS, which receives only household sludge). The Barueri sludge was applied from 1999 up to the agricultural year of 2003/2004. With the exception of the agricultural years of 2004/2005 and 2005/2006, the Franca sludge was applied up to 2008/2009. All the applications were made in November, with the exception of the first one which was made in April 1999. After harvesting the corn, the soil remained fallow until the next cultivation. The experiment was set up as a completely randomized block design with three replications and the following treatments: control without chemical fertilization or sludge application, mineral fertilization, and dose 1 and dose 2 of sludge (Franca and Barueri). The sludges were applied individually. Dose 1 was calculated by considering the recommended N application for corn. Dose 2 was twice dose 1. It was evident from this work that the successive application of sludge to the soil in doses sufficient to reach the productivity desired with the use of nitrogen fertilizers could cause environmental problems due to N losses to the environment and that the residual and cumulative effects should be considered when calculating the application of sludge to soil.

Modelling nitrogen leaching from sewage sludge application to arable land in the Lombardy region (northern Italy)

Sewage sludge can be used as fertiliser, offering the possibility of safely recycling this waste product as a resource in agricultural applications. As the environmental concerns related to waste recycling in agricultural applications are well-known, restrictions on the use of sewage sludge have been implemented by the EU and local authorities. This work aimed to evaluate the nitrogen leaching associated with the application of sludge and the effectiveness of the temporal restrictions on its application implemented to safeguard the environment in the Lombardy region of northern Italy (120 days in Nitrate Vulnerable Zones and 90 days elsewhere) using the CropSyst model which was first validated. The effects of fertilisation using four different sludge types on N leaching were simulated at five sites under cultivation with maize and rice crops; six different timing schemes for sludge application were tested, three of which involved dates that were in agreement (AT) with the regulation, while the other three were not in agreement (NAT). We detected a significant effect of the sludge type and application timing, whereas the effect of their interaction was never significant. The mean annual leaching was 22 to 154 kg N ha(-1). The higher the ammonium N content in the sludge was, the greater the potential for N leaching was found to be. For the maize crop, the distribution of sludge in the late fall period resulted in significantly greater N leaching (61 kg N ha(-1)) and led to lower yields (9 t DM ha(-1)) compared to late winter fertilisation (49 kg N ha(-1); 10 t DM ha(-1)), whereas no differences in N leaching or yield were detected between AT and NAT, which was also observed for the rice crop. Therefore, the applied temporal constraints did not always appear to be advantageous for protecting the environment from leaching.

Nitrate, phosphate, and ammonium loads at subsurface drains: agroecosystems and nitrogen management

Artificial subsurface drainage in cropland creates pathways for nutrient movement into surface water; quantification of the relative impacts of common and theoretically improved management systems on these nutrient losses remains incomplete. This study was conducted to assess diverse management effects on long-term patterns (1998-2006) of NO, NH, and PO loads (). We monitored water flow and nutrient concentrations at subsurface drains in lysimeter plots planted to continuous corn ( L.) (CC), both phases of corn-soybean [ (L.) Merr.] rotations (corn, CS; soybean, SC), and restored prairie grass (PG). Corn plots were fertilized with preplant or sidedress urea-NHNO (UAN) or liquid swine manure injected in the fall (FM) or spring (SM). Restored PG reduced NO eightfold compared with fields receiving UAN (2.5 vs. 19.9 kg N ha yr; < 0.001), yet varying UAN application rates and timings did not affect NO across all CCUANs and CSUANs. The NO from CCFM (33.3 kg N ha yr) were substantially higher than for all other cropped fields including CCSM (average 19.8 kg N ha yr, < 0.001). With respect to NH and PO, only manured soils recorded high but episodic losses in certain years. Compared with the average of all other treatments, CCSM increased NH in the spring of 1999 (217 vs. 680 g N ha yr), while CCFM raised PO in the winter of 2005 (23 vs. 441 g P ha yr). Our results demonstrate that fall manuring increased nutrient losses in subsurface-drained cropland, and hence this practice should be redesigned for improvement or discouraged.