- The greatest losses occur in the first hours after manure application.
- Leaving natural fertilizer for a dozen or so hours during hot weather means that we will lose up to half of the nitrogen.
Nitrogen losses can occur at any stage
Some nitrogen losses in manure occur at every stage, not only when it is applied to the field. Losses are also associated with storage and transport, but the greatest losses occur at the stage of fertilization itself. More precisely, the key moment is from the moment the manure remains in the field to the time it is mixed with the soil. This is when the highest nitrogen losses from manure occur due to ammonia emissions. However, in the context of losses, it is also worth paying attention to the method of storage. The loss of nitrogen is usually smaller then, although in the case of a very loose pile, some nitrogen losses occur.
The best weather conditions for fertilizing with manure are when it is cloudy and not too hot. At the same time, it is important to have adequately moist soil, which will allow for efficient mixing of the applied fertilizer with the soil. If it is too dry, then – apart from technical issues related to, for example, the possibility of ploughing – the manure does not start to decompose.
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What nitrogen losses occur after fertilization at high temperatures?
The first few hours are crucial. Two hours after application, manure can lose up to 20 percent of nitrogen. This is an impressive amount. It turns out that on average, even every fifth cart is just straw (of course with phosphorus, potassium and other ingredients, but without nitrogen) – this is how to visualize the losses. Of course, such a large loss is associated with high sunlight and high temperature.
Assuming that we start mixing the manure with the soil after 12 hours, losses at temperatures above 25 C and high sunlight will already be around at least over 30% (and even 40-50%) in terms of nitrogen.
Let us remember, however, that we are talking about ammonium nitrogen losses, which is not responsible for all the nitrogen in the manure.
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The highest ammonia emission is characteristic of chicken manure. At the same time, we will lose less phosphorus and potassium in chicken manure. Slightly lower losses in the first hours concern pig and cattle manure.
Much lower losses will be associated with application in cloudy conditions. Then, even after 24 hours, losses in the case of cattle manure may oscillate around 20 percent (this is the amount that may constitute a loss after only 2 hours in the case of high sunlight).
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