Residual Effects of Pig Slurry Fertilization in a Mediterranean Rainfed Cereal System
An increase in nitrogen (N) use efficiency (NUE) in agriculture is a requirement for sustainable development. The reduction in nitrogen inputs might benefit from the residual N of former organic fertilization procedures. A 10 year experiment was established in a rainfed Mediterranean system (barley–...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2024-10-01
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| Series: | Agronomy |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/14/11/2552 |
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| Summary: | An increase in nitrogen (N) use efficiency (NUE) in agriculture is a requirement for sustainable development. The reduction in nitrogen inputs might benefit from the residual N of former organic fertilization procedures. A 10 year experiment was established in a rainfed Mediterranean system (barley–wheat rotation). The objective of this experiment was to quantify the N residual effects of a single pig slurry (PS) application at sowing (20, 40, and 80 m<sup>3</sup> ha<sup>−1</sup>) and up to three years later. The mineral N equivalence method was used to compare the grain yield (GY) and the whole-plant N uptake (WPNU) between the slurry fertilized plots (slurries applied in previous years) and annual mineral N fertilized ones (30, 60, 90, 120, and 150 kg N ha<sup>−1</sup>). From the total N applied with PS, a fraction of, ca., 21% accounted for the residual equivalent mineral N for a total period of three years after the PS application. For the 20 m<sup>3</sup> ha<sup>−1</sup> rate, the relative residual N based on the GY and WPNU equaled to 89–90% of the applied organic N, respectively. This rate also allowed for an increase in NUE values to above 33%. In semiarid areas, the introduction of residual N when scheduling fertilization is important to reduce N inputs and to increase NUE. |
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| ISSN: | 2073-4395 |