Effect of application timing and grass height on the nitrogen fertilizer replacement value of cattle slurry applied with a trailing‐shoe application system |
| |
| Authors: | S T J Lalor J J Schröder E A Lantinga R P O Schulte |
| |
| Institution: | 1. Teagasc, Crops Environment and Land Use Programme, Johnstown Castle Environment Research Centre, , Wexford, Ireland;2. Plant Research International, , Wageningen, The Netherlands;3. Wageningen University, , Wageningen, The Netherlands |
| |
| Abstract: | This study investigated the effect of using a trailing‐shoe system to apply cattle slurry, under different conditions of grass height (low LG]: freshly cut sward 4–5 cm height] vs. high HG]: application delayed by 7–19 d and applied to taller grass sward 4–11 cm] height) and month of application (June vs. April), on the nitrogen fertilizer replacement value (NFRV) and apparent N recovery (ANRS) of cattle slurry applied to grassland. NFRV was calculated using two methods: (i) NFRVN based on the apparent recovery of slurry‐N relative to that of mineral‐N fertilizer; and (ii) NFRVDM based on DM yield. The effect of applying slurry into HG swards, relative to LG swards, decreased the DM yield by 0·47 t ha?1 (P ≤ 0·001), N uptake by 5 kg ha?1 (P = 0·05), ANRS by 0·05 kg kg?1 (P = 0·036), NFRVN by 0·05 kg kg?1 (P = 0·090) and NFRVDM by 0·11 kg kg?1 (P < 0·001). It was concluded that the main factor causing these decreases with HG, compared with LG applications, was wheel damage affecting subsequent N uptake and growth of the taller grass sward. |
| |
| Keywords: | cattle slurry nitrogen fertilizer trailing shoe apparent N recovery |
|
|
