Swine Manure Injection Demo

by Bryan Nybo P Ag and Darren Steinley

Wheatland Conservation Area Inc.

Over the past few years, the Wheatland Conservation Area has been working with the Prairie Agriculture Machinery Institute (PAMI) on a Swine Manure Injection project north of Swift Current. With a rapid increase in hog production in the area the need for environmentally sustainable manure management is required. This has led to producer and public demand that swine manure be applied to the soil with the least possible nutrient escape and odour. PAMI has worked to develop technology, which addresses these concerns and, along with the Wheatland Conservation Area, realized the need to further examine the agronomic issues that still exist with the use of swine manure as a fertilizer.

PAMI has determined that the most efficient use of swine manure is achieved when it is injected into the soil on as narrow a row spacing as possible. This conflicts with the philosophy and cultural practices in direct seeding and zero tillage systems. The farmers involved with these tillage systems require a low disturbance method of manure injection. Some low disturbance opener systems are already available but farmers are generally unaware of them. In this study, Wheatland will determine the proper amount of manure to applied, and if enough manure can be supplied in one year to fulfill the nitrogen requirements for a number of years without significant losses. The public is still unaware as to how little odour is produced in a properly configured manure injection operation and this information is equally as important to dissimilate as the agronomic information.

The swine manure treatments included a low disturbance disk at rates of 3000 gpa, 6000 gpa, 9000 gpa, and a high disturbance sweep at 3000 gpa, 6000 gpa, 9000 gpa. The urea treatments were applied at 50 lbs/ac, 100 lbs/ac, 150 lbs/ac of actual N. Urea was applied with a Flexi-Coil 5000 with the stealth opener on 9 inch rows. Two checks were also used, a high disturbance and a no disturbance check. No fertilizer was applied to the checks. These treatments were applied in the fall of 1998. Kyle durum was seeded on May 3^rd 1999 and again on May 9^th, 2000 at 80 lbs/ac with an Ezee-On air drill with stealth openers on 10-inch spacing. No additional fertilizer or manure was applied to the plots in either year, in order that we could determine the amount of nutrient carried over to the second year of production. The three main study parameters were yield, protein, and 1000 seed weights.

Major Findings

Year 1 (1999)

Protein was increased by using higher levels of hog manure, as was the case with the urea. In all cases, the protein levels in the low, medium, and high rates of swine manure met or exceeded the protein levels in the low, medium, and high rates of urea, respectively. In regards to 1000 seed weights, only small differences could be found between the treatments. The most dramatic results showed up in yields, where in all cases the hog manure treatments out yielded the urea-based fertilizer. Higher levels of hog manure or different types of disturbances did not necessarily translate into a higher yielding crop.

Table 1. Yield

Table 2. Protein

Conclusion

It appears there is a great nutrient potential for swine manure when injected directly into the soil. Overall, the best yields and protein were observed when manure was injected using the low disturbance type opener. The crop grown in the manure-injected plots were observed to have wider, greener leaves with less disease than plants grown on the check. This enables the plant to achieve greater yield potential. As well as the agronomic advantages to injecting manure, there are environmental benefits, specifically concerning odor management. If not injected, the strong, foul smell of swine manure can affect the lives of neighbors for miles. However, as shown at our field day, one can comfortably stand next to the implement while the injection process is taking place. This has significant implications on issue of manure management and disposal.