Glossary:Type of manure application
For the purpose of agricultural statistics the relevant types of manure application are:
- Broadcast - Broadcasting can be used for the application of solid, slurry and liquid manure. Application techniques include box spreaders, tank wagons, tow hoses, and irrigation systems. Broadcasting requires the least amount of energy and time, and results in a uniform application pattern. However, surface broadcasting promotes loss of nitrogen to the atmosphere, and the organic fraction decays slowly on the soil surface. The manure could also be mechanically incorporated.
- Band spread - Band spreading is the placement of fertilizer in a concentrated layer or location (band) in the soil, commonly 8-15 cm below the surface. Fertilizer bands can be placed with the seed, below the seed, or both. Surface banding requires half the power of injection units to pull around the field. Also, there is no root pruning with banding, unlike with injectors. Placing manure on the soil surface where it is exposed to sun and air may also reduce pathogens. Trailing hose and trailing shoe are types of band spreaders.
- Trailing hose - Slurry is discharged at ground level to grass or arable land through a series of flexible hoses. Application between the rows of a growing crop is feasible (CLRTAP, 2014).
- Trailing shoe - Slurry is normally discharged through rigid pipes which terminate in metal "shoes" designed to ride along the soil surface, parting the crop so that slurry is applied directly to the soil surface and below the crop canopy. Some types of trailing shoes are designed to cut a shallow slit in the soil to aid infiltration (CLRTAP, 2014).
- Injection of manure - Injection methods are beneficial as they place liquid manure below the soil surface, eliminating both surface runoff on sloping soils, and volatilization of ammonia from the manure on any soil. It also reduces odour. However, injection can significantly increase loss of nitrogen by denitrification and leaching to groundwater. Injection equipment can be added to liquid and slurry spreaders. The following types of injection can be distinguished:
- shallow injection: the application of liquid manure by placement in shallow, vertical slots, typically about 50mm deep and 25-30 cm apart, cut into the soil by a tine or disc; they are more commonly used on grassland
- deep injection: the application of slurry or liquid manure by placement in deep, vertical slots, typically about 150mm deep, cut into the soil by specially designed tines; the tines are fitted with lateral wings which aid the dispersion in the soil; typically these are used on arable land as they have an increased risk of physically damaging the grass swards (CLRTAP, 2014)
Related concepts
- Manure
- Capacity of storage facilities for manure
- Cover of storage facilities for manure
- Incorporation time of manure