Corn cobs efficiently reduced ammonia volatilization and improved nutrient value of stored dairy effluents

Obemah David Nartey; Deyan Liu; Jean Yves Uwamungu; Jiafa Luo; Stuart Lindsey; Hong J Di; Zengming Chen; Junji Yuan; Weixin Ding

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144712

Corn cobs efficiently reduced ammonia volatilization and improved nutrient value of stored dairy effluents

Sci Total Environ. 2021 May 15:769:144712. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144712. Epub 2021 Jan 14.

Authors

Obemah David Nartey¹, Deyan Liu², Jean Yves Uwamungu³, Jiafa Luo⁴, Stuart Lindsey⁴, Hong J Di⁵, Zengming Chen⁶, Junji Yuan⁶, Weixin Ding⁷

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China. Electronic address: dyliu@issas.ac.cn.
³ Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water Resources, Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetics and Development Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050021, China.
⁴ AgResearch Limited, Ruakura Research Centre, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand.
⁵ Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Lincoln University, Lincoln 7646, Christchurch, New Zealand.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.
⁷ State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China. Electronic address: wxding@issas.ac.cn.

PMID: 33465630
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144712

Abstract

Dairy farms produce considerable quantities of nutrient-rich effluent, which is generally stored before use as a soil amendment. Unfortunately, a portion of the dairy effluent N can be lost through volatilization during open pond storage to the atmosphere. Adding of covering materials to effluent during storage could increase contact with NH₄⁺ and modify effluent pH, thereby reducing NH₃ volatilization and retaining the effluent N as fertilizer for crop application. Here the mitigation effect of cover materials on ammonia (NH₃) volatilization from open stored effluents was measured. A pilot-scale study was conducted using effluent collected at the Youran Dairy Farm Company Limited, Luhe County, Jiangsu, China, from 15 June to 15 August 2019. The study included seven treatments: control without amendment (Control), 30-mm × 25-mm corn cob pieces (CC), light expanded clay aggregate - LECA (CP), lactic acid (LA) and lactic acid plus CC (CCL), CP (CPL) or 20-mm plastic balls (PBL). The NH₃ emission from the Control treatment was 120.1 g N m^-2, which was increased by 38.1% in the CP treatment, possibly due to increased effluent pH. The application of CC reduced NH₃ loss by 69.2%, compared with the Control, possibly due to high physical resistance, adsorption of NH₄⁺ and effluent pH reduction. The lactic acid amendment alone and in combination with other materials also reduced NH₃ volatilization by 27.4% and 31.0-46.7%, respectively. After 62 days of storage, effluent N conserved in the CC and CCL treatments were 21.0% and 22.0% higher than that in the Control (P < 0.05). Our results suggest that application of corn cob pieces, alone or in combination with lactic acid, as effluent cover could effectively mitigate NH₃ volatilization and retain N, thereby enhancing the fertilizer value of the stored dairy effluent and co-applied as a soil amendment after two months open storage.

Keywords: Ammonia volatilization; Cover materials; Effluent N retaining; Effluent storage; Mitigation practice.

MeSH terms

Agriculture
Ammonia* / analysis
China
Fertilizers / analysis
Nitrogen / analysis
Nutrients
Soil
Volatilization
Zea mays*

Substances

Fertilizers
Soil
Ammonia
Nitrogen