# Quality of Maize Silage After Using Meat Bone Meal as a Phosphorus Fertilizer in a Field Experiment  
[PERSON]  
1 Department of Agricultural and Environmental Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsdyn, Oczapowskiego 8, 10-719 Olsdyn, Poland; [EMAIL_ADDRESS]  
[PERSON]  
2  
[PERSON]  
2  
[PERSON]  
2  
Footnote 2: email:  
inconclusive. According to [PERSON] et al. [9], the response of maize to N fertilization may vary depending on water availability because the synergistic relationship between water and N fertilizer contributes to increasing yield and nutrient use efficiency. Maize plants are sensitive to phosphorus (P) deficiency. Adequate P supply promotes the development of an extensive and metabolically active root system, which provides the plant with water and nutrients, and offers effective protection against infection [10].  
Waste management constitutes a significant environmental challenge in the contemporary world. The quantity of organic waste, including animal by-products, continues to increase, which renders their disposal increasingly challenging. As an animal by-product, meat and bone meal (MBM) offers a viable alternative to mineral and organic fertilizers owing to its high content of N (approx. 80 g\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\)), P (approx. 50 g\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\)), calcium (Ca; approx. 100 g\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\)), micronutrients, and organic matter (OM) [11; 12; 13; 14; 15]. The composition of MBM is determined by the raw material and the proportions of the P- and Ca-rich bone fraction and the N-rich soft tissue fraction N [12]. The low carbon (C)/N ratio (4:1 to 5:1), indicates that MBM is characterized by a relatively high rate of N mineralization, compared with other organic fertilizers. Despite the high P content of MBM, a significant portion of this nutrient is present in the form of hydroxyapatite (bone fraction), which is not readily available to plants [12; 14]. In turn, organic P (soft tissue) is rapidly converted to mineral forms that are readily available to plants. Presently, the recycling of P from waste is recognized as one of the fundamental tenets of the European strategy for sustainable P management. In many regions of the world, MBM is a locally produced organic by-product that can be used as a fertilizer, thereby promoting agricultural intensification to meet the mounting consumer demand [16]. Silage maize can be fertilized with organic by-products to support nutrient recycling and replace (completely or partially), expensive mineral fertilizers. The use of MBM to replace or supplement conventional mineral fertilizers and provide plants with macronutrients is justified for environmental and economic reasons. According to [PERSON] and [PERSON] [17], replacing mineral fertilizers with MBM decreased energy demand in winter oilseed rape production by 20-55%. Due to the relatively low price of MBM and the fact that the recommended dose of MBM is much lower than that of organic fertilizers (e.g., manure), fuel costs were considerably reduced.  
The application of MBM as an organic fertilizer to maize grown for grain has been extensively researched [13; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 20; 21], while only a few studies have investigated the efficacy of MBM as fertilizer in silage maize. Therefore, the following research hypothesis was formulated: MBM may replace mineral phosphate fertilizers in maize silage cultivation. The aim of the present study is to determine the effect of MBM on the feed value of maize silage during a three-year field experiment.