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Publications

NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.

2016

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Abstract

Minable rock phosphate is a finite resource. Replacing mineral phosphorus (P) fertilizer with P-rich secondary resources is one way to manage P more efficiently, but the importance of physicochemical and microbial soil processes induced by secondary resources for plant P uptake is still poorly understood. Using radioactive-labeling techniques, the fertilization effects of dairy manure, fish sludge, meat bone meal, and wood ash were studied as P uptake by barley after 44 days and compared with those of water-soluble mineral P (MinP) and an unfertilized control (NoP) in a pot experiment with an agricultural soil containing little available P at two soil pH levels, approximately pH 5.3 (unlimed soil) and pH 6.2 (limed soil). In a parallel incubation experiment, the effects of the secondary resources on physicochemical and microbial soil processes were studied. The results showed that the relative agronomic efficiency compared with MinP decreased in the order: manure ≥fish sludge ≥wood ash ≥meat bone meal. The solubility of inorganic P in secondary resources was the main driver for P uptake by barley (Hordeum vulgare). The effects of secondary resources on physicochemical and microbial soil processes were of little overall importance. Application of organic carbon with manure resulted in microbial P immobilization and decreased uptake by barley of P derived from the soil. On both soils, P uptake by barley was best explained by a positive linear relationship with the H2O + NaHCO3-soluble inorganic P fraction in fertilizers or by a linear negative relationship with the HCl-soluble inorganic P fraction in fertilizers.

Abstract

Mineable rock phosphate is a limited resource. Replacing mineral phosphorus (P) fertiliser with P-rich secondary resources is one way to manage P more efficiently. The Norwegian potential to replace mineral P fertiliser with total P in secondary resources was analysed here using substance flow analysis. The results obtained were integrated with data on P plant-availability in secondary resources and showed that, theoretically, plant-available P in manure alone could fulfil the Norwegian demand for P fertiliser. However, P in manure is inefficiently utilised due to the geographical segregation of animal husbandry and arable farming, which contributes to considerable P over-application to agricultural soil. In Norway, agriculture and aquaculture drive P consumption and losses at similar levels, and the amount of P in fish excrement and feed losses from off-shore aquaculture pens (fish sludge) is of the same order of magnitude as P in manure. Fish sludge is currently not collected or utilised, but lost to coastal marine waters. All other secondary resources represent relatively small amounts of P, but may still be important regionally. Political incentives are thus needed in current regulations to efficiently close P cycles. To achieve P recycling in practice, it is essential to know the relative agronomic efficiency (RAE) of secondary P products compared with mineral fertiliser. Nine secondary P products were analysed here: Two biomass ashes, meat bone meal, fish sludge, catering waste, two food waste-based digestate products, dairy manure and chicken manure. The RAE of these secondary products studied in a bioassay with ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) varied widely, partly depending on soil pH. Fertilisation effects were mainly attributable to the solubility of the inorganic P species contained in the secondary products. Combining sequential chemical fractionation and non-destructive speciation methods revealed that P was mainly present as calcium phosphates of differing solubility. Further analysis showed that microbial and physicochemical soil processes induced by the secondary P products studied were of little overall importance for total P uptake in barley (Hordeum vulgare). Based on the results obtained, two chemical extraction methods for predicting the RAE of secondary products with unknown fertilisation effects are suggested: At soil pH <6.5, RAE should be predicted by the fraction of inorganic P in the secondary product (% of total P) that is extractable in H2O. At soil pH >6.5, RAE should be predicted by the fraction of inorganic P (% of total P) that is extractable in 0.5 M NaHCO3 (Olsen P).

2015