Carbon and nitrogen mineralization and ammonia volatilization from fresh, aerobically and anaerobically treated pig manure during incubation with soil

Abstract

We studied the decomposition of aerobically and anaerobically treated pig manure during a 2-month incubation with soil. The manure samples had not been in contact with straw or with animal urine. The aerobically decomposed manure proved to be the most stable (23% C mineralization), followed by fresh (75%) and anaerobically treated manure (105%, priming effect). The course of mineralization fitted combined first- and zero-order kinetics. In the anaerobically treated manure, 76% of NH4+-N was immobilized during the initial incubation phase, followed by a slow linear mineralization. In the aerobically treated manure there was a slow linear mineralization after 5 days, and in the fresh material, a slightly faster linear mineralization after 6 days. Total mineralized N was very similar after 2 months (12%) in all treatments. Total NH3 losses were highest from the anaerobically treated manure (14%), reflecting a higher NH4+ content with N mineralization following first-order kinetics. Relating NH3 losses to the initial NH4+ content showed that all NH3 in the aerobically treated manure was volatilized, whereas only 28% was volatilized from the fresh and the anaerobically treated manure.

Keywords

AMMONIA LOSS; CO2-C EVOLUTION; COMBINED 1ST-ORDER AND ZERO-ORDER KINETICS; N-IMMOBILIZATION; NITRIFICATION; NONLINEAR REGRESSION; PRIMING EFFECT

Published in

Biology and Fertility of Soils
1992, volume: 13, number: 3, pages: 135-141
Publisher: SPRINGER VERLAG

SLU Authors

• Kirchmann, Holger

  • Department of Soil Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Soil Science
Agricultural Science

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00336268

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/44229