Arnold, G.J., Field Specialist, Manure Nutrient Management Systems, Ohio State University Extension

ABSTRACT

Liquid swine and liquid dairy manure were applied as pre-emergent and post-emergent sidedress sources of nitrogen and compared to 28% Urea Ammonium Nitrate (UAN) on corn over a four-year study. The manure was applied using a manure tanker and Dietrich incorporation sweeps and the 28%UAN was incorporated using standard sidedressing equipment. The incorporated manure treatments resulted in a statistically significant yield increase and the surface applied manure treatments were similar to the commercial fertilizer treatments. Replacing purchased sidedress nitrogen with the ammonia nitrogen portion of livestock manure can help livestock producers get more value from manure.

Introduction

Livestock manure contains the macronutrients nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium needed for crop production. Most of the livestock manure in Ohio is applied in the summer months following wheat harvest or in the fall months following silage, soybean, or corn harvest. When manure is land applied without a growing crop, the majority of the ammonia nitrogen is lost to the environment. If livestock producers could better utilize the ammonia nitrogen in the manure, by applying the manure to a corn crop, it could be of greater value and open a window of in-season manure application not currently being utilized in Ohio.

Methods

This study was designed to determine if the available nitrogen in liquid swine and liquid dairy manure could provide adequate sidedress nitrogen for corn yield. In each of the four years of this study (2011-2014) liquid swine finishing manure and liquid dairy manure were applied as the sidedress nitrogen sources and compared to commercial 28% Urea Ammonium Nitrate (UAN) in a randomized complete block design. All manure applications were made with a 2,250 gallon manure tanker with a Dietrich toolbar with covering wheels and injected to a depth of five inches. The 28%UAN treatments were applied using a standard applicator that injected the fertilizer to a depth of three inches. The plots were replicated four times each year and all treatments received 200 pounds per acre of nitrogen as sidedress each year. The plots did not receive any starter fertilizer. One treatment did not receive any nitrogen (zero nitrogen check).

The sidedress treatments were incorporated 28% UAN, incorporated swine finishing manure, surface applied swine finishing manure, incorporated dairy manure and surface applied dairy manure. All treatments were applied to the corn plots both as pre-emergent or post-emergent stage of corn growth. Pre-emergent manure and incorporated 28% UAN treatments were applied within three days of the corn being planted each year. Post-emergent manure and 28% UAN treatments were applied at the V-3 stage of corn growth.

The swine finishing manure was from an under-floor pit and the average analysis indicated 40 pounds of available nitrogen per 1,000 gallons (table 3). Available nitrogen is the nitrogen available almost immediately for a growing crop and is mostly in the ammonia form. To achieve 200 pounds of nitrogen per acre the swine finishing manure was applied at 5,000 gallons per acre.

The dairy manure was from an unroofed manure storage pond and the average analysis indicated 10 pounds of available nitrogen per 1,000 gallons (table 3). To achieve 200 pounds of nitrogen per acre the dairy manure treatments received 13,500 gallons per acre and 65 pounds per acre of incorporated 28% UAN. The 28%UAN was applied (incorporated) just prior to the dairy manure in each treatment. The half-inch application of manure (13,577 gallons per acre) is the maximum allowed under Ohio law and is the available moisture holding capacity of the soil.

Treatment blocks were 90 feet in length and 10 feet (four rows) in width. There were four replications with a 30 foot border between the replications. The center two rows of each four-row treatment were harvested for yield. The ends of all treatments were trimmed off to assure all were of equal length. The pre-emergent and post-emergent 28% sidedress treatments applied 200 pounds of nitrogen and were applied the same days as the manure treatments in all four years.

The soil type was Hoytville Silty Clay. The soil phosphorus level (Bray P1) was 34ppm and the potash level was 160ppm. The plots are minimum tillage and in a corn-soybean rotation. This was a non-irrigated field.

Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center Manure Sidedress Corn Plots
	Yield in Bushels per Acre
	2011	2012	2013	2014	4-year ave.
Pre-emergent treatments
1) Incorporated 28%UAN	138.1c	111.5b	184.6a	145.1b	144.8b
2) Incorporated swine manure	191.9a	128.6a	191.8a	146.5b	164.7a
3) Surface applied swine manure	180.9a	109.5b	175.7a	137.2c	150.8ab
4) Incorporated dairy manure + 28%UAN	190.1a	132.0a	185.4a	166.1a	168.4a
5) Surface applied dairy manure + 28%UAN	184.5a	97.0c	166.0a	141.9c	147.4b
Post-emergent treatments
6) Incorporated 28%UAN	132.7c	116.0b	181.9a	140.9c	142.9b
7) Incorporated swine manure	180.8a	138.4a	196.7a	139.9c	164.0a
8) Surface applied swine manure	178.0a	116.4b	188.0a	115.6d	149.5b
9) Incorporated dairy manure + 28%UAN	180.0a	138.8a	192.0a	156.9a	166.9a
10) Surface applied dairy manure + 28%UAN	170.5b	101.6c	181.5a	125.3d	144.7b
LSD (0.10)	20.98	14.39	23.17	10.71	18.79
CV	10.06	9.99	10.62	6.29	8.39
Control (no nitrogen)	74.4	62.6	82.0	67.0	71.5

                                                                                                           

Table 1. Results.

 

		2011	2012	2013	2014
Corn planting date		May 1	May 12	May 25	May 18
Normal precipitation (inches)		15.2	16.5	14.2	15.2
Actual precipitation (inches)		22.2	15.9	17.0	11.9
Historical average temp		68.4	67.3	68.9	68.4
Actual average temp		70.0	69.8	69.0	68.2
Total growing degree days		2,942	2,911	2,468	2,540
Average high temp		80.9	82.2	80.4	79.8
Average low temp		59.9	57.5	58.1	56.6

 

Table 2. Weather Data (planting date to September 30^th).

 

	Swine	Dairy
Total Nitrogen	43.1	16.1
Ammonium Nitrogen (NH3)	37.1	5.2
Organic Nitrogen	6.0	10.9
Available Nitrogen	40.2	10.1
Phosphorus (P2O5)	18.0	8.4
Potash (K2O)	26.6	20.7

                                                         

Table 3. Manure Nutrient Analysis (pounds per 1,000 gallons).

 

Discussion

Although the weather data (table 2) indicated near-normal rainfall for each season, the 2011, 2012 and 1014 growing seasons in this study experienced unusually dry weather in the weeks following the corn planting. In 2011 the plots received good moisture in July when the corn crop could still benefit. In the 2012 growing season the moisture later in the growing season was too late to benefit the corn crop. The 2014 growing season was the driest of all the growing seasons in this study and most of the moisture was too late to help the corn crop.

The pre-emergent 28%UAN treatments averaged 144.8 bu/ac and the post-emergent 28%UAN treatments averaged 142.9 bu/ac over the four year study. The dry growing seasons accounted for these reduced yields.

The pre-emergent incorporated swine finishing manure averaged 164.7 bu/ac and the post-emergent treatments averaged 164.0 bu/ac. The moisture provided by the incorporated manure appeared to positively impact the crop yields, especially during the 2011 year when the plots experienced early drought but adequate rainfall in July.

The pre-emergent surface applied swine finishing manure averaged 150.8 bu/ac and the post-emergent treatments averaged 149.5 bu/ac. The surface application of the manure likely resulted in losing more nitrogen and more manure moisture than the incorporated treatments.

The pre-emergent incorporated dairy manure averaged 168.4 bu/ac and the post-emergent treatments averaged 166.9 bu/ac. These treatments also had 65 pounds of 28%UAU applied reach the 200 pounds of nitrogen treatment goal. The incorporation of the manure appeared to save nitrogen losses and conserve the moisture from the dairy manure.

The pre-emergent surface applied dairy manure averaged 147.4 bu/ac and the post-emergent treatments averaged 144.7 bu/ac. These treatments also had 65 pounds of 28%UAU applied reach the 200 pounds of nitrogen treatment goal. The surface application of the manure likely resulted in losing more nitrogen and more manure moisture than the incorporated treatments.

The Control (zero nitrogen) treatments averaged 71.5 bu/ac. This treatment had no starter or sidedress nitrogen applied. The zero nitrogen treatment was to establish a baseline on available nitrogen from the soybean crops the previous years.

Stand populations were taken prior to harvest. Populations averaged approximately 31,000 plants per acre across all treatments; even in the drought years. The manure did not appear to reduce the plot stands in any year.

Grain samples were analyzed each year for moisture and vomitoxin. There were no differences detected between the treatments for vomitoxin. The manure treatment grain samples did run about 0.5 percent higher in moisture at harvest time.

The liquid manure application cost, using the Minnesota Manure Distribution Cost Analyzer spreadsheet was calculated at $20 per 1,000 gallons or $.02 per gallon. The cost of applying 5,000 gallons of swine finishing manure per acre as side-dress nitrogen was $100 per acre and the cost of applying the liquid d airy manure was $270 per acre. The nitrogen cost for the 28%UAN treatments was $120 per acre. Livestock producers must eventually land apply manure produced from their operations. Applying the manure in-season as a replacement for purchased fertilizer does lower the final cost of the manure application process.

Conclusion

In this study, liquid livestock manure proved an adequate replacement for commercially purchased 28%UAN as a sidedress nitrogen source for corn.

If swine finishing manure could be efficiently applied as a sidedress for corn, and applied at a rate to meet the nitrogen needs of the corn crop in a two-year corn/soybean rotation, the swine manure is almost an exact match for the nitrogen, phosphorus and potash needs of the corn crop and the soybean crop the following season. Dairy manure could also be used in this manner if a livestock producer reduced the dairy manure application rate and used supplemental nitrogen to meet the nitrogen needs of the corn crop.

The use of a manure tanker to apply dairy or swine manure to a growing corn crop raises concerns about both soil compaction and overall efficiency of the manure application process. The results of this research will encourage research into using a drag hose to apply manure to pre-emergent corn and possibly post-emergent corn in Ohio. The drag hose would address both the soil compaction and manure application efficiency issues. The drag hose would also lower the manure application cost per gallon.

Applying liquid livestock manure to growing crops can potentially boost yields, reduce nutrient losses, and give livestock producers another window of time to apply manure in-season to farm fields. There is also great potential to apply liquid manure to small grains and pastures. Several Ohio livestock producers apply liquid swine finishing manure to wheat fields in early April using equipment that creates slices in the soil, approximately every seven inches apart and two inches deep, that allow the manure to be rapidly absorbed. These producers use manure to replace the purchased fertilizer typically applied to soft-red winter wheat in Ohio in the months of March or April.

Literature Cited

Wiederholt, R.J., (2009). Wheat Response to Fall vs. Spring Manure Application, Journal of National Association of County Agricultural Agents, Volume 1 issue 2.

Denis A. Angers, Gilles Bélanger, Philippe Rochette, Nikita Eriksen-Hamel, Shabtai Bittman, Katherine Buckley, Daniel Massé and Marc-Olivier Gasser. (2008). Yield and Nutrient Export of Grain Corn Fertilized with Raw and Treated Liquid Swine Manure. American Society of Agronomy.

E. G. Beauchamp. (1986). Availability of Nitrogen From Three Manures to Corn in the Field.  Canadian Journal of Soil Science.

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