Recycling Soil Nitrate Nitrogen by Amending Agricultural Lands with Oily Food Waste

• Published in: Journal of environmental quality Vol. 32; no. 5; pp. 1881 - 1886
• Main Authors: Rashid, M. T., Voroney, R. P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Madison American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Soil Science Society 01.09.2003; Crop Science Society of America; American Society of Agronomy
• Subjects: Agricultural land; Agricultural practices; agricultural soils; Agriculture; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Biological and medical sciences; Conservation of Natural Resources; Cover crops; fertilizer rates; Fertilizers; Food; Food Industry; Food waste; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General agronomy. Plant production; groundwater; Leaching; Mineralization; nitrate nitrogen; Nitrogen; Nitrogen - chemistry; Nitrogen - isolation & purification; Nitrogen fertilization; nitrogen fertilizers; Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium fertilizations; Oils; Oils & fats; Ontario; Other nutrients. Amendments. Solid and liquid wastes. Sludges and slurries; recycling; Refuse Disposal; rhizosphere; Root zone; sea level; Seasons; Soil and water pollution; Soil science; Soil-plant relationships. Soil fertility. Fertilization. Amendments; Soils; Spring; Triticum; Triticum aestivum; Water Pollution; Winter wheat; Canada; North America; Ontario; America; Canada, Ontario; Cultural practice; Nitrogen fertilization; Autumn; Application time; Nitrates; Agricultural soil; Oils and fats; Organic fertilizer; Soil management; Field experiment; Food waste; Fertilizing value; Nitrogen cycle; Inorganic nitrogen; Water pollution control; Spring(season); Water pollution; Nitrogen fertilizer; Agri-environmental measure; Land disposal; Organic amendment
• ISSN: 0047-2425; 1537-2537; 1537-2537
• DOI: 10.2134/jeq2003.1881

ABSTRACT With current agricultural practices the amounts of fertilizer N applied are frequently more than the amounts removed by the crop. Excessive N application may result in short‐term accumulation of nitrate nitrogen (NO3–N) in soil, which can easily be leached from the root zone and into the ground water. A management practice suggested for conserving accumulated NO3–N is the application of oily food waste (FOG; fat + oil + greases) to agricultural soils. A two‐year field study (1995–1996 and 1996–1997) was conducted at Elora Research Center (43°38′ N, 80° W; 346 m above mean sea level), University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada to determine the effect of FOG application in fall and spring on soil NO3–N contents and apparent N immobilization–mineralization of soil N in the 0‐ to 60‐cm soil layer. The experiment was planned under a randomized complete block design with four replications. An unamended control and a reference treatment [winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cover crop] were included in the experiment to compare the effects of fall and spring treatment of oily food waste on soil NO3–N contents and apparent N immobilization–mineralization. Oily food waste application at 10 Mg ha−1 in the fall decreased soil NO3–N by immobilization and conserved 47 to 56 kg NO3–N ha−1, which would otherwise be subject to leaching. Nitrogen immobilized due to FOG application in the fall was subsequently remineralized by the time of fertilizer N sidedress, whereas no net mineralization was observed in spring‐amended plots at the same time.