Precision manure management on site-specific management zones: Nitrogen mineralization

Precise quantification of nitrogen (N) mineralization in animal manure from different productivity-level management zones (MZs) could result in efficient and safe utilization of manure as N fertilizer. The objective of this study was to compare N mineralization rates of dairy cattle manure within and across three productivity-level MZs. To accomplish this, a 120day laboratory incubation study was conducted at the Natural Resources Ecology Laboratory at Colorado State University using a completely randomized design set as a 2 factor factorial. Treatments for the study, which included the field equivalent of, 22, 44, 67, and 134 Mg ha(-1) of applied animal manure, were replicated four times. Soils used in the study were collected from the top 15cm of high, medium and low MZs from Fort Collins, Colorado, USA on a continuous corn (Zea mays L.) field. A significant difference (P 0.05) in mineralized N across MZs was found across manure rates. The high, medium and low MZ N mineralization rates were compared and there was no significant difference in cumulative N mineralized between MZs over time. The lack of statistical difference in mineralized N between MZs is hypothesized to have been influenced by the lack of substantial difference in soil pH and particle sizes (only 6% clay difference between MZs). That being the case, a study involving spatially variable soils with significantly different soil particle size between MZs may result in a different conclusion. The results of the study support the hypothesis that variable rates of manure mineralize differently within MZs; however, the results do not support the hypothesis that variable rates of manure in soil may mineralize differently across MZs.