Overwinter transformation and fate of fall applied manure nitrogen
Channel: Livestock & Poultry Environ. Learning Community
Date: 2015-05-15

The full proceedings paper is at: www.extension.org/72749

There is growing evidence that soil nutrient cycling is sustained during the non-growing season in the northern regions of Canada. However, the extent of the transformations and loss of fall-applied manure N is not well documented. The NH4-N fraction of liquid dairy cattle manure, liquid swine manure, and ammonium sulfate was enriched with 15N radioactive isotope, and all N sources were applied to bare sandy loams in early November at sites located in contrasted climate (mean annual temperature 1 to 10°C; mean annual precipitation 300 to 1300 mm; mean snow cover depth &lt;5 to 70 cm). The experiment was replicated over two years at each site. Soils were sampled on the week of application, in November, and at intervals until next May. The recovery of applied 15N in soil NH4-N, NO3-N and organic N pools was measured in the 0-30 cm depth. Soil temperature was also monitored at the 5, 20 and 50 cm depths. Although the transformation of applied ammonium was delayed in colder areas, the transformation of 15NH4-N was generally completed by April, generally before seeding of the next crop. Both nitrification and immobilization of fall-applied 15NH4-N occurred throughout the non-growing season at all sites. As a result, residual 15N was essentially recovered as NO3-N and organic N in the following spring. In most cases, more than 50% of fall-applied 15N was not recovered in the following spring. In general, more 15NH4-N was immobilized with manures than ammonium sulfate, possibly because of the presence of fresh carbon in the manure. As a result, more 15N was recovered in the spring with the manure, and this was particularly obvious at the warmer sites. We conclude that a significant portion of fall-applied NH4-N may be lost during the non-growing season, even in areas with cold and long winter period.