Band application of acidified slurry as an alternative to slurry injection in a Mediterranean double cropping system: Agronomic effect and gaseous emissions

摘要

Injection is the recommended technique for slurry application to soil in most European countries but its utilization at the farm scale is quite limited, namely in countries from southern Europe, due to the strong investment needed in machinery and problematic utilization in stony and/or heavy soils. Acidification of animal slurry has proved to be efficient at minimising NH3 emissions but little is known about its impact on other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions or agronomic effect, particularly in Mediterranean conditions. In the present study, we evaluate the potential of band application of acidified slurry as an alternative to raw slurry injection, in terms of agronomic effects and NH3 and GHG emissions, for two different Mediterranean soils (a sandy and a sandy-loam soil) where a double-cropping system (oat during winter and maize during spring/summer) was run over 3-years. Five treatments were tested in 1 m(2) field plots: 1) control (non amended soil); 2) injected slurry (IS); 3) band application of raw slurry followed by soil incorporation (SS); 4) band application of acidified slurry followed by soil incorporation (AS); 5) band application of acidified slurry with no soil incorporation (ASS). An amount of slurry equivalent to similar to 90 and 170 kg N ha(-1) was applied before oat and maize sowing, respectively.