Nitrogen recovery by orchardgrass from dairy manure applied with or without fertilizer nitrogen

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Abstract
With increasing manure production per unit cropland available for its disposal, greater recovery and recycling of manure nitrogen (N) through crop uptake is needed on dairy farms to minimize environmental problems. This study was conducted in 1990 and 1991 on a sandy loam soil with the objective of quantifyin forage yield and N recovery by orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) in response to dairy manure applied in spring with or without fertilizer N. Manure N, either as liquid or as solid with bedding, was surface applied annually to supply 150 kg total N/ha/yr with four rates of fertilizer N (0, 75, 150, and 300 kg N/ha in 1990 and 0, 150, 300, and 600 kg N/ha in 1991) factorially superimposed over the manure treatments. Averaged over years, orchardgrass recovered 40% of the liquid manure N and 26% of the solid manure N applied each year. On an annual basis, the crop recovered 430 kg soil N/ha/yr from plots receiving liquid manure in combination with 600 kg fertilizer N/ha. This study demonstrates that intensively managed orchardgrass has the potential to absorb large quantities of manure N.