Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8872827 | Agricultural Water Management | 2018 | 7 Pages |
Abstract
The use of urine, and urine-derived products can supplement chemical fertilisers. There is little information on the use of urine products in agriculture particularly in South Africa. A laboratory incubation experiment was conducted to determine effects of urine-derived sources on nitrogen (N) release in soil. A 5â¯Ãâ¯2 factorial in a completely randomised design was used with two soils, differing in clay and carbon contents, and five nitrogen (N) sources; unamended control, urine, struvite effluent, stuviteâ¯+â¯struvite effluent, nitrified urine concentrate. A follow up tunnel pot trial was conducted to determine effects of the urine-derived N sources on dry matter production of perennial ryegrass. The experiment was conducted with the Cartref soil as a 6â¯Ãâ¯2 factorial in a completely randomised design, with the same N sources as in the incubation experiment, applied either once-off or split, replicated three times. In the Cartref soil (lower clay and C), ammonium- N declined from 1000 to about 3â¯mg/kg from day one to day 70, while nitrate- N increased significantly from 0.3â¯mg/kg to about 400â¯mg/kg during the same period. Conversely, ammonium-N declined from 100â¯mg/kg to 8.5â¯mg/kg in the Inanda soil (higher clay and C), while nitrate- N did not significantly increase. Split application of urine derived N sources resulted in higher cumulative dry matter (873-993â¯kg/ha) than once-off application (602-727â¯kg/ha). When split applied only struvite effluent resulted in higher drymatter than struvite effluentâ¯+â¯struvite, while once-off application resulted in higher drymatter in the NUC (725â¯kg/ha) and urine (707â¯kg/ha) than struvite effluent (602â¯kg/ha) and struvite effluentâ¯+â¯struvite (663â¯kg/ha). The study indicate that urine derived nitrogen sources, particularly nitrified urine concentrate, can release nitrogen in soil and increase drymatter production of perennial ryegrass, particularly with split application.
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Authors
Ntobeko Mchunu, Alfred Odindo, Pardon Muchaonyerwa,