Differential retention of carbon nitroge
Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 86:225–229
DOI 10.1007/s10705-009-9286-3
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Differential retention of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus
in grassland soil profiles with long-term manure application
D. A. Angers Æ M. H. Chantigny Æ
J. D. MacDonald Æ P. Rochette Æ
D. Coˆte´
Received: 17 February 2009 / Accepted: 18 May 2009 / Published online: 6 June 2009
Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009
Abstract Liquid hog manure (LHM) is a valuable
source of nutrients for farm production. Long-term
experimental plots that had received LHM applications of 0, 50, and 100 m3 ha-1 annually for 20 years
were analyzed for total soil C, N and P storage.
Applications increased total soil N and P by 1,200 kg
N ha-1 and 850 kg P ha-1 at 100 m-3 LHM year-1,
compared to the control treatment. However, C storage
did not increase with LHM rates and was lower in the
50 m3 ha-1 LHM treatment (86 Mg C ha-1) than in
the 0 or 100 m3 ha-1 treatments (100 Mg C ha-1). In
addition to the limited quantities and high decomposability of the C supplied by LHM, it is hypothesized
that LHM stimulated the mineralization of both native
soil C and fresh root-derived material. This priming
effect was particularly apparent in deeper soil horizons
where the decomposability of native C may be limited
by the supply of fresh C. This study indicates
that while LHM can be a significant source of crop
D. Coˆte´—Retired.
D. A. Angers (&) M. H. Chantigny
J. D. MacDonald P. Rochette
Centre de recherche et de de´veloppement sur les sols et les
grandes cultures, Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada,
Quebec G1V 2J3, Canada
e-mail: denis.angers@agr.gc.ca
D. Coˆte´
Institut de recherche et de´veloppement en
agroenvironnement, Quebec G1P 3W8, Canada
nutrients, it has limited capacity for maintaining or
increasing soil C.
Keywords Animal manure Carbon
Nitrogen Phosphorus Grassland
Hog production has intensified worldwide in the last
decades. On average over 10 million Mg of liquid
hog manure (LHM) (about 33 million kg N and
9 million kg P) are produced and applied annually on
limited acreage along major tributaries of the StLawrence River in the province of Que´bec, Canada.
Forage fields may be used for LHM disposal because
nutrients are sequestered rapidly in the plant biomass,
which may decrease the risk of environmental losses.
Application of animal manure to grassland usually
results in enrichment of the soil in nutrients such as N
and P in surface soil layers (Westerman et al. 1987;
King et al. 1990). However, the effect on soil organic
C is less clear. Contrary to what is often observed for
solid animal manure, application of LHM does not
always increase soil C content (Plaza et al. 2005;
Carter and Campbell 2006). The organic matter
fraction of LHM is largely composed of rapidly
decomposable organic C which may not contribute
significantly to stable organic matter. Moreover, its
high content in labile C and in available N and P
could accelerate the decomposition of plant residues
and native soil C (Rochette et al. 2000; Chantigny
et al. 2001; Plaza et al. 2005).
123
226
Integrated approaches to management of agricultural watersheds require a clear understanding of how
different cropping systems and different management
practices may simultaneously influence soil C, N, and
P storage. Short-term studies identify immediate
impacts on specific processes that occur in soils, but
only long-term data provide confirmation that these
effects are having a significant influence on soils over
time. Our objective was to determine the effect of
20 years of LHM application on the distribution and
storage of C, N and P in the soil profile of a field
dedicated to perennial forage production.
Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 86:225–229
depth to test the effect of LHM application rate on
soil storage of C, N and P expressed as Mg ha-1. It
was not possible to obtain measurements of bulk
density in the thin 0–2.5 cm layer and since the first
three layers showed similar trends, they were summed
and expressed as one layer (0–15 cm). Since duplicate
application rates had undergone slightly different
tillage regimes (one duplicate had been mouldboard
ploughed to 15–20 cm three times since the initiation
of the experiment), the duplicates were treated as
random blocks using the MIXED procedure in SAS.
Quantitative contrast analysis was used to test for
linear or quadratic effects of LHM rate.
Materials and methods
Results and discussion
The experimental site was located at the research
farm of the Institut de recherche et de de´veloppement
en agroenvironnement (IRDA), 25 km south of
Que´bec City, Canada (Lat. 46°050 ; Long. 71°020 ;
Alt. 110 m), on a poorly drained and slightly acidic
Le Bras silty clay loam (loamy, mixed, frigid, Typic
Humaquept). The mean annual temperature at the site
is 4.2°C, and the mean annual total precipitation is
1213 mm.
In 1978, a timothy (Phleum pratense L.) stand was
established on six 10 9 60-m plots. Starting in 1979,
LHM was applied annually in the fall at rates of 0
(Control), 50, and 100 m3 ha-1 on two randomlyassigned plots. The forage crop was harvested in midJune and late July of each year. Soils were sampled in
spring 1999 by extracting 16 undisturbed soil cores
(3-cm diameter) from each plot and subdivided in 0–
2.5, 2.5–7.5, 7.5–15, 15–30, 30–50 and 50–70 cm
depths. For each sampling depth, the 16 cores from
the same plot were sieved in the field at 6 mm and
combined to make one soil sample per plot per
sampling depth. Bulk density was measured with the
cylinder method (Culley 1993) at each soil depth, and
was used to calculate C, N and P storage in the soil
profile on a mass per area basis (Mg ha-1).
Soil samples were air-dried and sieved at 2 mm for
analysis. Total soil C and total N concentrations were
measured by dry combustion (Leco CNS-1000, Leco
Corp., St-Joseph, MI). Total soil P content was
determined by wet oxidation as described by Rowland and Grimshaw (1985).
An ANOVA was performed on summations of the
complete soil profile (0–70 cm) and on each soil
123
Carbon
The effect of LHM rate on C storage in the whole soil
profile was quadratic (Table 1), with similar C
storage in the control and the 100 m3 LHM ha-1
treatments (100 Mg ha-1) and lower amount for the
50 m3 LHM ha-1 treatment (85 Mg ha-1) (Fig. 1).
The distribution of soil C with depth was modified
(Table 2). There was a linear trend of increasing C
content with LHM rate in the 0–15 cm layer.
However, much higher amounts of C were found in
the control than in LHM plots in the 30–50 cm layer.
The C present in LHM is rapidly mineralized in
soil (Rochette et al. 2000; Angers et al. 2007),
especially volatile fatty acids that may account for up
to one-third of total carbon in LHM (Kirchmann and
Lundvall 1993; Chantigny et al. 2004b). Consequently, the renewal and maintenance of C likely
relied more on plant C inputs, mostly through root
biomass, than on the direct C input with LHM. The
application of LHM increased plant productivity and
Table 1 ANOVA comparison of C, N and P stored in soil
profiles of plots receiving increasing rates of application of
liquid hog manure
Element Block LHM
rate
Quadratic
contrast
Linear
contrast
C
0.300 0.040
0.020
0.743
N
0.266 0.057
0.607
0.029
P
0.259 0.050
0.271
0.027
Data represent P values
Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 86:225–229
227
120
C
90
60
Total Elemental Mass (0-70cm) (Mg ha-1)
30
0
10
N
8
6
4
2
0
8
P
6
stimulating effect of nutrient rich liquid manure on
the decomposition of soil C has been demonstrated
for hog (Bernal and Kirchmann 1992; Plaza et al.
2005) and dairy cattle manure (Fangueiro et al.
2007). Our findings indicate that in the long-term, C
lost by the priming of C mineralization exceeded the
additional C input gained from the application of
LHM at a rate of 50 m3 ha-1 year-1, resulting in a
decrease in C levels relative to an unfertilized
grassland. When applied at a rate of 100 m3
ha-1 year-1, however, the additional C input from
LHM and the increased forage productivity likely
counterbalanced the priming effect and maintained
soil C levels.
It is noteworthy that soil C content was significantly lower in soil fertilized with LHM (both rates),
than in the unfertilized plot between 30 and 50 cm
(Table 2). Soil organic C at depth may be particularly
sensitive to priming as the low supply of fresh C
(Fontaine et al. 2007) and nutrients may limit its
decomposition. Therefore, the leaching of LHM
might have accelerated the decomposition of the
native organic C at depth. However, the possibility of
greater accumulation of root-derived C in the nonfertilized plots cannot be excluded.
Nitrogen and phosphorus
4
2
0
0
50
100
LHM Application Rate (Mg ha-1)
Fig. 1 Total mass of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus stored
(0–70 cm) in soil profiles under three rates of liquid hog
manure applications. Detailed analysis of variance is presented
in Table 1
forage dry matter yield (Table 3), and thus presumably the plant-derived C input to the soil, although
grass root biomass does not always respond as
aboveground biomass to the application of N fertilizers (Leyshon 1991; Singh 1999).
Reduced C storage in soil receiving 50 m3 LHM
-1
ha year-1 (Fig. 1) might be due to a priming
effect of LHM on the decomposition of plant
residues (roots) and native C. In the short-term, the
The amount of N and P stored in the whole soil profile
increased linearly with LHM rate (Table 1). After
20 years, the soil amended with 50 m3 LHM ha-1
contained 490 kg ha-1 more N, and the soil receiving
100 m3 LHM ha-1 contained 1,500 kg ha-1 more N
than the control treatment. The accumulated N was
mostly found in the top 15 cm of soil (Table 2). This
increase in soil total N storage, relative to the control,
represented 16–20% of the total amount of N applied
with LHM over 20 years. Short-term experiments that
traced 15N labeled LHM in soil indicated that the
retention of N in the soil typically ranges from 15 to
50% (Morvan et al. 1997; Chadwick et al. 2001;
Chantigny et al. 2004a).
Forage dry matter (DM) yields were measured on
the experimental plots, and total DM exported
equalled 3.9 and 5.4 Mg ha-1 respectively for the
50 and 100 m3 ha-1 plots (Table 3). Based on a
simple estimate of tissue N concentrations of 21 kg N
Mg-1 D.M. (Tremblay et al. 2005), we estimated that
total forage N export would be approximately 1,638
123
228
Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 86:225–229
Table 2 Total quantities of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus stored in profiles of soils receiving liquid hog manure for 20 years
Annual liquid swine manure application rate (Mg ha-1)
ANOVA P value
Quantitative contrasts
Linear
0
Mean
50
Mean
100
Mean
Pr [ F
0–15
49.0
49.7
58.9
0.083
0.0435
NS
15–30
31.8
25.2
29.0
NS**
NS
NS
30–50
16.0 A*
Depth
Quadratic
Carbon (Mg ha-1)
7.1 B
7.5 B
0.0075
0.0071
0.0714
4.2
3.6
4.5
NS
NS
NS
0–15
3.08 B
3.37 B
3.98 A
0.0063
0.0018
NS
15–30
1.9
1.9
1.8
NS
NS
NS
30–50
1.3
1.3
1.2
NS
NS
NS
50–70
0.7
0.8
1.1
NS
NS
NS
0–15
0.81 C
1.16 B
1.49 A
\0001
\0001
NS
15–30
0.9
1.0
1.0
NS
NS
NS
30–50
50–70
1.8
2.4
1.9
2.3
1.8
2.4
NS
NS
NS
NS
NS
NS
50–70*
Nitrogen (Mg ha-1)
Phosphorus (Mg ha-1)
* Letters represent significantly different values
** NS = non significant
Table 3 Average forage yields from 1981 to 1996 (±standard deviation, n = 17), and estimated N and P uptake
Manure rate
(m3 ha-1 year-1)
Dry matter
(Mg ha-1 year-1)
N uptake
(kg ha-1 year-1)
P uptake
(kg ha-1 year-1)
0
1.3 ± 0.9
27.3
3.6
50
100
3.9 ± 2.0
5.4 ± 2.2
81.9
111.3
10.9
14.8
Calculations based on average measured forage yields and on 21 kg N Mg-1 D.M. and 2.8 kg P Mg-1 D.M. (Tremblay et al. 2005)
and 2,226 kg ha-1, representing 37–55% of the total
N applied with LHM. This simple budget estimate
suggests that a significant part of the applied N might
have been lost from the soil-plant system over the
period of the experiment.
The total amount of P applied with LHM over the
20-year period was 541 and 1,082 kg ha-1 for the 50
and 100 m3 ha-1 treatments, respectively. The respective amounts of P stored in soils amended with LHM
for 20 years were 610 and 850 kg ha-1 greater than in
the control plots (Fig. 1), representing 112 and 79% of
the total P applied. Accounting for export in forage, the
additional P accounted for in the soil-plant system was
equivalent to 139 and 99% of total P applied with
123
LHM. This points out the difficulty of making P
budgets as its concentration in soil was spatially
variable. However, these high values suggest that the
proportion of P added that remained in the soil was very
high in the plots amended with LHM.
Conclusions
This long-term study was useful to demonstrate the
influence of repeated applications of LHM on soil C,
N, and P content. Application of LHM resulted in the
differential accumulation of C, N, and P in the profile
of a grassland soil under a cool and wet climate. Both
Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 86:225–229
total N and P storage increased linearly with LHM
application rate, but not all the applied N could be
accounted for in the soil-plant system, whereas
applied P was mostly recovered in the soil. Despite
the positive effect on above-ground biomass production, LHM application, even at high rates, did not
increase soil C levels of this grassland soil. In
addition to the limited quantities and high decomposability of the C supplied by LHM, it is possible
that LHM stimulated the mineralization of both
native soil C and fresh root-derived material, in
particular in deeper soil horizons where the decomposability of native C may be limited by the supply of
fresh C. However, the possibility of greater accumulation of root-derived C in the non-fertilized plots
cannot be excluded. We conclude that even if applied
to a grassland soil at agronomic rates (e.g.
50 Mg ha-1 year-1), LHM may help improve soil
nutrient content, but would not be efficient at
increasing soil C.
Acknowledgments We would like to acknowledge Drs. M.
Bolinder and R.R. Simard who contributed to various parts of
this study. Acknowledgments are extended to P. Jolicoeur, J.
Tremblay and N. Bissonnette for their assistance in the field, in
the laboratory, and with statistical analyses.
References
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Carter MR (ed) Soil sampling and methods of analysis.
CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 529–539
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(2007) Stability of organic carbon in deep layers controlled by fresh carbon supply. Nature 450:277–281. doi:
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immobilization and volatile fatty acids in soil after
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in southwest Saskatchewan. Can J Plant Sci 71:1057–1067
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123
DOI 10.1007/s10705-009-9286-3
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Differential retention of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus
in grassland soil profiles with long-term manure application
D. A. Angers Æ M. H. Chantigny Æ
J. D. MacDonald Æ P. Rochette Æ
D. Coˆte´
Received: 17 February 2009 / Accepted: 18 May 2009 / Published online: 6 June 2009
Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009
Abstract Liquid hog manure (LHM) is a valuable
source of nutrients for farm production. Long-term
experimental plots that had received LHM applications of 0, 50, and 100 m3 ha-1 annually for 20 years
were analyzed for total soil C, N and P storage.
Applications increased total soil N and P by 1,200 kg
N ha-1 and 850 kg P ha-1 at 100 m-3 LHM year-1,
compared to the control treatment. However, C storage
did not increase with LHM rates and was lower in the
50 m3 ha-1 LHM treatment (86 Mg C ha-1) than in
the 0 or 100 m3 ha-1 treatments (100 Mg C ha-1). In
addition to the limited quantities and high decomposability of the C supplied by LHM, it is hypothesized
that LHM stimulated the mineralization of both native
soil C and fresh root-derived material. This priming
effect was particularly apparent in deeper soil horizons
where the decomposability of native C may be limited
by the supply of fresh C. This study indicates
that while LHM can be a significant source of crop
D. Coˆte´—Retired.
D. A. Angers (&) M. H. Chantigny
J. D. MacDonald P. Rochette
Centre de recherche et de de´veloppement sur les sols et les
grandes cultures, Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada,
Quebec G1V 2J3, Canada
e-mail: denis.angers@agr.gc.ca
D. Coˆte´
Institut de recherche et de´veloppement en
agroenvironnement, Quebec G1P 3W8, Canada
nutrients, it has limited capacity for maintaining or
increasing soil C.
Keywords Animal manure Carbon
Nitrogen Phosphorus Grassland
Hog production has intensified worldwide in the last
decades. On average over 10 million Mg of liquid
hog manure (LHM) (about 33 million kg N and
9 million kg P) are produced and applied annually on
limited acreage along major tributaries of the StLawrence River in the province of Que´bec, Canada.
Forage fields may be used for LHM disposal because
nutrients are sequestered rapidly in the plant biomass,
which may decrease the risk of environmental losses.
Application of animal manure to grassland usually
results in enrichment of the soil in nutrients such as N
and P in surface soil layers (Westerman et al. 1987;
King et al. 1990). However, the effect on soil organic
C is less clear. Contrary to what is often observed for
solid animal manure, application of LHM does not
always increase soil C content (Plaza et al. 2005;
Carter and Campbell 2006). The organic matter
fraction of LHM is largely composed of rapidly
decomposable organic C which may not contribute
significantly to stable organic matter. Moreover, its
high content in labile C and in available N and P
could accelerate the decomposition of plant residues
and native soil C (Rochette et al. 2000; Chantigny
et al. 2001; Plaza et al. 2005).
123
226
Integrated approaches to management of agricultural watersheds require a clear understanding of how
different cropping systems and different management
practices may simultaneously influence soil C, N, and
P storage. Short-term studies identify immediate
impacts on specific processes that occur in soils, but
only long-term data provide confirmation that these
effects are having a significant influence on soils over
time. Our objective was to determine the effect of
20 years of LHM application on the distribution and
storage of C, N and P in the soil profile of a field
dedicated to perennial forage production.
Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 86:225–229
depth to test the effect of LHM application rate on
soil storage of C, N and P expressed as Mg ha-1. It
was not possible to obtain measurements of bulk
density in the thin 0–2.5 cm layer and since the first
three layers showed similar trends, they were summed
and expressed as one layer (0–15 cm). Since duplicate
application rates had undergone slightly different
tillage regimes (one duplicate had been mouldboard
ploughed to 15–20 cm three times since the initiation
of the experiment), the duplicates were treated as
random blocks using the MIXED procedure in SAS.
Quantitative contrast analysis was used to test for
linear or quadratic effects of LHM rate.
Materials and methods
Results and discussion
The experimental site was located at the research
farm of the Institut de recherche et de de´veloppement
en agroenvironnement (IRDA), 25 km south of
Que´bec City, Canada (Lat. 46°050 ; Long. 71°020 ;
Alt. 110 m), on a poorly drained and slightly acidic
Le Bras silty clay loam (loamy, mixed, frigid, Typic
Humaquept). The mean annual temperature at the site
is 4.2°C, and the mean annual total precipitation is
1213 mm.
In 1978, a timothy (Phleum pratense L.) stand was
established on six 10 9 60-m plots. Starting in 1979,
LHM was applied annually in the fall at rates of 0
(Control), 50, and 100 m3 ha-1 on two randomlyassigned plots. The forage crop was harvested in midJune and late July of each year. Soils were sampled in
spring 1999 by extracting 16 undisturbed soil cores
(3-cm diameter) from each plot and subdivided in 0–
2.5, 2.5–7.5, 7.5–15, 15–30, 30–50 and 50–70 cm
depths. For each sampling depth, the 16 cores from
the same plot were sieved in the field at 6 mm and
combined to make one soil sample per plot per
sampling depth. Bulk density was measured with the
cylinder method (Culley 1993) at each soil depth, and
was used to calculate C, N and P storage in the soil
profile on a mass per area basis (Mg ha-1).
Soil samples were air-dried and sieved at 2 mm for
analysis. Total soil C and total N concentrations were
measured by dry combustion (Leco CNS-1000, Leco
Corp., St-Joseph, MI). Total soil P content was
determined by wet oxidation as described by Rowland and Grimshaw (1985).
An ANOVA was performed on summations of the
complete soil profile (0–70 cm) and on each soil
123
Carbon
The effect of LHM rate on C storage in the whole soil
profile was quadratic (Table 1), with similar C
storage in the control and the 100 m3 LHM ha-1
treatments (100 Mg ha-1) and lower amount for the
50 m3 LHM ha-1 treatment (85 Mg ha-1) (Fig. 1).
The distribution of soil C with depth was modified
(Table 2). There was a linear trend of increasing C
content with LHM rate in the 0–15 cm layer.
However, much higher amounts of C were found in
the control than in LHM plots in the 30–50 cm layer.
The C present in LHM is rapidly mineralized in
soil (Rochette et al. 2000; Angers et al. 2007),
especially volatile fatty acids that may account for up
to one-third of total carbon in LHM (Kirchmann and
Lundvall 1993; Chantigny et al. 2004b). Consequently, the renewal and maintenance of C likely
relied more on plant C inputs, mostly through root
biomass, than on the direct C input with LHM. The
application of LHM increased plant productivity and
Table 1 ANOVA comparison of C, N and P stored in soil
profiles of plots receiving increasing rates of application of
liquid hog manure
Element Block LHM
rate
Quadratic
contrast
Linear
contrast
C
0.300 0.040
0.020
0.743
N
0.266 0.057
0.607
0.029
P
0.259 0.050
0.271
0.027
Data represent P values
Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 86:225–229
227
120
C
90
60
Total Elemental Mass (0-70cm) (Mg ha-1)
30
0
10
N
8
6
4
2
0
8
P
6
stimulating effect of nutrient rich liquid manure on
the decomposition of soil C has been demonstrated
for hog (Bernal and Kirchmann 1992; Plaza et al.
2005) and dairy cattle manure (Fangueiro et al.
2007). Our findings indicate that in the long-term, C
lost by the priming of C mineralization exceeded the
additional C input gained from the application of
LHM at a rate of 50 m3 ha-1 year-1, resulting in a
decrease in C levels relative to an unfertilized
grassland. When applied at a rate of 100 m3
ha-1 year-1, however, the additional C input from
LHM and the increased forage productivity likely
counterbalanced the priming effect and maintained
soil C levels.
It is noteworthy that soil C content was significantly lower in soil fertilized with LHM (both rates),
than in the unfertilized plot between 30 and 50 cm
(Table 2). Soil organic C at depth may be particularly
sensitive to priming as the low supply of fresh C
(Fontaine et al. 2007) and nutrients may limit its
decomposition. Therefore, the leaching of LHM
might have accelerated the decomposition of the
native organic C at depth. However, the possibility of
greater accumulation of root-derived C in the nonfertilized plots cannot be excluded.
Nitrogen and phosphorus
4
2
0
0
50
100
LHM Application Rate (Mg ha-1)
Fig. 1 Total mass of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus stored
(0–70 cm) in soil profiles under three rates of liquid hog
manure applications. Detailed analysis of variance is presented
in Table 1
forage dry matter yield (Table 3), and thus presumably the plant-derived C input to the soil, although
grass root biomass does not always respond as
aboveground biomass to the application of N fertilizers (Leyshon 1991; Singh 1999).
Reduced C storage in soil receiving 50 m3 LHM
-1
ha year-1 (Fig. 1) might be due to a priming
effect of LHM on the decomposition of plant
residues (roots) and native C. In the short-term, the
The amount of N and P stored in the whole soil profile
increased linearly with LHM rate (Table 1). After
20 years, the soil amended with 50 m3 LHM ha-1
contained 490 kg ha-1 more N, and the soil receiving
100 m3 LHM ha-1 contained 1,500 kg ha-1 more N
than the control treatment. The accumulated N was
mostly found in the top 15 cm of soil (Table 2). This
increase in soil total N storage, relative to the control,
represented 16–20% of the total amount of N applied
with LHM over 20 years. Short-term experiments that
traced 15N labeled LHM in soil indicated that the
retention of N in the soil typically ranges from 15 to
50% (Morvan et al. 1997; Chadwick et al. 2001;
Chantigny et al. 2004a).
Forage dry matter (DM) yields were measured on
the experimental plots, and total DM exported
equalled 3.9 and 5.4 Mg ha-1 respectively for the
50 and 100 m3 ha-1 plots (Table 3). Based on a
simple estimate of tissue N concentrations of 21 kg N
Mg-1 D.M. (Tremblay et al. 2005), we estimated that
total forage N export would be approximately 1,638
123
228
Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 86:225–229
Table 2 Total quantities of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus stored in profiles of soils receiving liquid hog manure for 20 years
Annual liquid swine manure application rate (Mg ha-1)
ANOVA P value
Quantitative contrasts
Linear
0
Mean
50
Mean
100
Mean
Pr [ F
0–15
49.0
49.7
58.9
0.083
0.0435
NS
15–30
31.8
25.2
29.0
NS**
NS
NS
30–50
16.0 A*
Depth
Quadratic
Carbon (Mg ha-1)
7.1 B
7.5 B
0.0075
0.0071
0.0714
4.2
3.6
4.5
NS
NS
NS
0–15
3.08 B
3.37 B
3.98 A
0.0063
0.0018
NS
15–30
1.9
1.9
1.8
NS
NS
NS
30–50
1.3
1.3
1.2
NS
NS
NS
50–70
0.7
0.8
1.1
NS
NS
NS
0–15
0.81 C
1.16 B
1.49 A
\0001
\0001
NS
15–30
0.9
1.0
1.0
NS
NS
NS
30–50
50–70
1.8
2.4
1.9
2.3
1.8
2.4
NS
NS
NS
NS
NS
NS
50–70*
Nitrogen (Mg ha-1)
Phosphorus (Mg ha-1)
* Letters represent significantly different values
** NS = non significant
Table 3 Average forage yields from 1981 to 1996 (±standard deviation, n = 17), and estimated N and P uptake
Manure rate
(m3 ha-1 year-1)
Dry matter
(Mg ha-1 year-1)
N uptake
(kg ha-1 year-1)
P uptake
(kg ha-1 year-1)
0
1.3 ± 0.9
27.3
3.6
50
100
3.9 ± 2.0
5.4 ± 2.2
81.9
111.3
10.9
14.8
Calculations based on average measured forage yields and on 21 kg N Mg-1 D.M. and 2.8 kg P Mg-1 D.M. (Tremblay et al. 2005)
and 2,226 kg ha-1, representing 37–55% of the total
N applied with LHM. This simple budget estimate
suggests that a significant part of the applied N might
have been lost from the soil-plant system over the
period of the experiment.
The total amount of P applied with LHM over the
20-year period was 541 and 1,082 kg ha-1 for the 50
and 100 m3 ha-1 treatments, respectively. The respective amounts of P stored in soils amended with LHM
for 20 years were 610 and 850 kg ha-1 greater than in
the control plots (Fig. 1), representing 112 and 79% of
the total P applied. Accounting for export in forage, the
additional P accounted for in the soil-plant system was
equivalent to 139 and 99% of total P applied with
123
LHM. This points out the difficulty of making P
budgets as its concentration in soil was spatially
variable. However, these high values suggest that the
proportion of P added that remained in the soil was very
high in the plots amended with LHM.
Conclusions
This long-term study was useful to demonstrate the
influence of repeated applications of LHM on soil C,
N, and P content. Application of LHM resulted in the
differential accumulation of C, N, and P in the profile
of a grassland soil under a cool and wet climate. Both
Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst (2010) 86:225–229
total N and P storage increased linearly with LHM
application rate, but not all the applied N could be
accounted for in the soil-plant system, whereas
applied P was mostly recovered in the soil. Despite
the positive effect on above-ground biomass production, LHM application, even at high rates, did not
increase soil C levels of this grassland soil. In
addition to the limited quantities and high decomposability of the C supplied by LHM, it is possible
that LHM stimulated the mineralization of both
native soil C and fresh root-derived material, in
particular in deeper soil horizons where the decomposability of native C may be limited by the supply of
fresh C. However, the possibility of greater accumulation of root-derived C in the non-fertilized plots
cannot be excluded. We conclude that even if applied
to a grassland soil at agronomic rates (e.g.
50 Mg ha-1 year-1), LHM may help improve soil
nutrient content, but would not be efficient at
increasing soil C.
Acknowledgments We would like to acknowledge Drs. M.
Bolinder and R.R. Simard who contributed to various parts of
this study. Acknowledgments are extended to P. Jolicoeur, J.
Tremblay and N. Bissonnette for their assistance in the field, in
the laboratory, and with statistical analyses.
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