Influence of undigested and digested cattle slurry on grassland yield compared to mineral fertilizer

Bijeenkomst: EGF2015
Auteur: Tampere M., Kauer K., Keres I., Parol A., Pitk P., Selge A., Viiralt R. and Raave H.
ISBN: 978-9090-289-61-8
Jaar van uitgifte: 2015
Producttype: Paper
The of production biogas from cattle slurry is increasing in Estonia, but there is not enough information about the efficiency of using its by-product digestate as grassland fertilizer. Therefore a farm experiment was conducted to study the impact of cattle slurry digestate, undigested (raw) cattle slurry and inorganic compound fertilizer on grassland yield. Organic fertilizers were applied in amounts to provide 25 kg ha‑1 P yr‑1. The application rates of cattle slurry digestate and cattle slurry provided 80.7 and 61.1 kg NH4 +-N ha‑1 yr‑1 respectively, and the mineral compound fertilizer was 80 kg N ha‑1 yr‑1. Grass yield was measured three times in the growing period. Our research showed that NH4 +-N from cattle slurry digestate was not as effective as N from mineral fertilizer. Despite the higher NH4 +-N application amount with digestate its yield was similar to the cattle slurry treatment.