Solid manure is a soil improver with a high dry matter percentage. Livestock manure is a mixture of feces and urine, bedding material (e.g. straw, wood shavings, sawdust, sphagnum), spilt feed and drinking water, and water used for washing floors. It is a valuable fertilizer that contains a broad range of nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) as well as organic carbon which can be utilised by soil microorganisms. Raw manure can be processed with separation technologies that produce a solid fraction in which much of the P and dry matter (DM) and significant amounts of the N are retained.
There are several technologies available for liquid and solid separation, including in-house separation such as slatted floors with cellars or channels beneath, natural sedimentation, drying, evaporation, centrifugation, pressurized separation such as screw or belt press. To increase the separation efficiency, manure can be pretreated by using additives such as brown coal, bentonite, zeolite, crystals, chitosan and efficient microorganisms. Depending on the pre-treatment and separation technologies, the obtained solid manure may contain up to 90% of organic matter with reduced volume, which results in reduced storage and transportation cost as well as reduced odors and GHG emission. Therefore, solid manure represents high potential to be used as organic fertiliser or soil amendment. It can be used for several types of crops.
Examples of solid manure products available on the NUTRIMAN Farmer Platform:
- ID370: https://nutriman.net/farmer-platform/product/id_370 (France)
- ID594: https://nutriman.net/farmer-platform/product/id_594 (The Netherlands)
- ID595: https://nutriman.net/farmer-platform/product/id_595 (The Netherlands)
Typical nutrient content and availability for plants
The nutrient content is strongly dependent on the used technology and input material. In the case of the Geamix system (ID 595), the nutrient content is 13 g/kg N, 9,4 g/kg P2O5 and 8,2 g/kg K2O. In the case of using a belt press sieve for the separation of mostly pig slurry (ID 594), the nutrient content is 13 g/kg N, 18,0 g/kg P2O5 and 5,1 g/kg K2O. In the case of the SECONOV dehydration process (ID 370), the nutrient content is 4,6% N, 3% P and 2,9% K.
Fields of application in agriculture:
Solid manure can be used for a wide range of applications as soil improver. For instance, the NPK organic fertilizer from poultry droppings with SECONOV dehydration process (ID 370) can be used for wheat, barley, corn, rape, sunflower, potatoes, fruit trees, grapes, …, with a typical application dose of 1 to 4 t/ha. The dosage depends on crop application rates, but is currently limited to 170 kg N/ha as livestock manure or 230-250 kg N/ha for derogation farms in NL.
Solid manure can be applied before sowing or planting of the crops with the same machines which are now being used for spreading solid manure.
Benefits for farmers: Solid manure is a natural product with a high organic matter content. Therefore, the C/N ratio is high which means that these products are well-stabilized but able to increase soil fertility. Depending on the used technology and input material, some additional benefits can be seen (e.g. organic phosphorus with high bioavailability, hygienic and free from pathogens).
For more information:
- ID370: https://nutriman.net/farmer-platform/product/id_370
- ID594: https://nutriman.net/farmer-platform/product/id_594
- ID595: https://nutriman.net/farmer-platform/product/id_595
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