Effects of Biosolids-Derived Organomineral Fertilizers, Urea, and Biosolids Granules on Crop and Soil Established with Ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.)

Abstract

A pot scale trial investigated the agronomic performance of two organomineral fertilizers

Field‐Scale Evaluation of Biosolids‐Derived Organomineral Fertilizers Applied to Winter Wheat in England

“…The work reported here extends earlier studies by Antille et al (2013bAntille et al ( , 2014a conducted at glasshouse-and field-scales on the value of biosolids-derived OMF as amendments for perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), which showed satisfactory agronomic and environmental performance of OMF, and suggested that such products could be used to extend the use of biosolids on arable land. Consequently, the study reported here assessed the agronomic efficiency and determined the feasibility of using OMF on economically important arable crops, such as winter wheat, grown in the Northwest of England.…”

“…Such a response also suggested that fertilizer N-related stresses prior to anthesis occurred to lesser extent in urea-and OMF-compared with biosolids-treated crop. This is because of faster N release and enhanced uptake in those treatments (Antille et al, 2013b(Antille et al, , 2014a following fertilizer application in spring, with subsequent N remobilization at later stages of crop development. Poorer physical properties of OMF 15 compared to OMF 10 in the batch applied in 2008 also explain relative differences in use-efficiency between the two materials (Jensen and Pesek, 1962).…”

“…A concern of routine application of biosolids to soil is that the loading rate of P can be higher than that commonly applied through mineral fertilizers because of their low N/P ratio (Higgs et al, 2000;Pritchard et al, 2010). This can lead to progressive build-up of soil P, a problem commonly observed in areas close to production sites, where soils frequently have relatively high soil P Indices that are above the recommended target index for the soil and cropping system (Skinner and Todd, 1998;DEFRA, 2010;Antille et al, 2014aAntille et al, , 2014b. Combined effects of the relatively low N/P ratio of biosolids (typically less than 1) with soil application rates based primarily on crop N requirements (Withers et al, 2016) often results in over-application of P relative to crop need.…”

“…This allowed fertilizer treatment × crops interaction effects on soil chemical properties to be measured over 4 yr and related to a wider range of weather conditions. Results on the agronomic response of ryegrass to OMF are in Antille et al (2013bAntille et al ( , 2014a.…”

The Possibility of Organo-Mineral Fertilizer Production from Sewage Sludge

“…A soil analysis conducted 120 days after the OMFs treatment showed the decrease of soil organic nitrogen; this can be attributed to the N-immobilization and gaseous losses, which are the result of denitrification process. The losses of nitrogen resulting from the volatilization of ammonia can occur within a surface application of fertilizers [77]. A correlation between nitrogen uptake and nitrogen rate was observed.…”