Zvomuya: Can Slow-Release Monoammonium Phosphate and Struvite Improve Phosphorus Use Efficiency and Reduce Seedling Toxicity in Canola?
Date: June 2014
Term: 2 years
Status: Completed
Researcher(s): F. Zvomuya, Y. Katanda, D. Flaten, N. Cicek, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg MB
SaskCanola Investment: $56,050
Total Project Cost: n/a
Funding Partners: ACPC, MCGA
Project Summary
The management of large volumes of hog manure on agricultural land is a critical challenge due to its low N:P ratio and stringent regulations based on soil test phosphorus (P) levels. One potential option to reduce the concentrations of P in hog manure is the recovery of manure P as struvite, prior to land application. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of struvite recovered from liquid hog manure as a P source for canola grown in rotation with wheat. Overall, the study results showed that struvite was at least as effective as the commercial fertilizers, MAP and CMAP, in supplying P and supporting good canola and spring wheat biomass yields, and can alleviate toxicity issues associated with seed-row placement.
The management of large volumes of hog manure on agricultural land is a critical challenge due to its low N:P ratio and stringent regulations based on soil test phosphorus (P) levels. One potential option to reduce the concentrations of P in hog manure is the recovery, prior to land application, of manure P as struvite, a highly concentrated and readily transported product that also contains the plant nutrients nitrogen (N) and magnesium (Mg). The recovered struvite has low solubility or slow release properties, which may result in greater crop uptake of P compared with conventional fertilizers. The slow-release properties of struvite may also allow seed-row placement of P at higher rates than feasible with conventional fertilizers for salt sensitive crops.
In this study, the overall objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of struvite recovered from liquid hog manure as a P source for canola grown in rotation with wheat, using two separate greenhouse experiments. In the first experiment, a greenhouse bioassay was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of struvite on dry matter yield (which is directly correlated with grain yield), P uptake from applied struvite, P uptake efficiency (PUE, which is the percentage of applied P taken up by the crop), and agronomic P use efficiency (AE, which is a measure of dry matter produced per unit P applied) of canola grown in rotation with spring wheat. The second growth chamber experiment assessed canola seedling toxicity following seed-row placement of struvite and other P sources.
Two low-P soils with contrasting texture, a dark grey sand and a black clay loam, were used in the study, which compared struvite with monoammonium phosphate (MAP) and polymer-coated MAP (CMAP, which is a controlled-release form of MAP) at rates corresponding to 0, 25 and 50 kg/ha P205 using different placement methods. The P sources were placed either with the seeds in a 2.5-cm wide seed-row or in a 2.5-cm wide sideband 2.5 cm below and beside the seed-row. Two sequences of alternating crops of canola and spring wheat (one crop sequence of canola-wheat-canola and the other of wheat-canola-wheat) were grown and harvested at early flowering. This was equivalent to three crop cycles, which allowed for the measurement of the levels of residual P in the second and third crop cycles. In the growth chamber study, seedbed utilizations of 5.5 percent and 10.9 per cent were also tested, but with P-sources placed only in the seed-row. Seedlings were counted daily over a 14-day period to assess toxicity effects.
Overall, the study results showed that struvite was at least as effective as the commercial fertilizers, MAP and CMAP, in supplying P and supporting good canola and spring wheat biomass yields. In the clay loam soil struvite produced greater canola dry matter yield than MAP in the second phase and both MAP and CMAP in the third phase. This indicates the ability of struvite to effectively supply P for longer durations than MAP and CMAP in this soil, potentially improving the P status of P deficient soils.
The study also showed a lower risk associated with seedrow application of slowrelease P sources, struvite and CMAP. For the most part, MAP lowered canola emergence more than the slow-release fertilizers, with high rates of MAP potentially leading to more than a 50 per cent reduction in seedling emergence. These results indicate that struvite may be a safe option when canola is grown in P-deficient soils, which require the application of large rates of P in the seedrow. Reducing seedling damage by using a less toxic P source such as struvite could also help curb losses and costs associated with replanting.
The study results show that struvite is a potential alternative to relatively expensive controlled-release fertilizers, and can alleviate toxicity issues associated with seed-row placement while improving P use efficiency in canola-wheat rotations. This study also demonstrates that struvite can be safely applied at higher P rates than can be safely applied with MAP, an important value for those farmers with P-deficient soils. In addition to the agronomic benefits, recovery of struvite from hog manure could be a sustainable way of recycling P from livestock operations, which are coming under increasing regulatory pressure due to environmental concerns (i.e., water quality problems in streams and lakes).
Scientific publications.
Katanda Y, Zvomuya F, Flaten D and Cicek N. 2015. Hog manure-recovered struvite as a phosphorus fertilizer for canola and wheat: Effects on biomass yield and phosphorus use efficiencies. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 80: 135-146.