Is Dairy Effluent an Alternative for Maize Crop Fertigation in Semiarid Regions? An Approach to Agronomic and Environmental Effects.

The reuse of effluents from intensive dairy farms combined with localized irrigation techniques (fertigation) has become a promising alternative to increase crop productivity while reducing the environmental impact of waste accumulation and industrial fertilizers production. Currently, the reuse of dairy effluents through fertigation by subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) systems is of vital importance for arid regions but it has been poorly studied. The present study aimed to assess the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, soil properties, and crop yield of a maize crop fertigated with either treated dairy effluent or dissolved granulated urea applied through an SDI system at a normalized N application rate of 200 kg N ha-1. Fertilizer application was divided into six fertigation events. GHG fluxes were measured during fertigation (62-day) using static chambers. Soil properties were measured previous to fertilizer applications and at the harvest coinciding with crop yield estimation. A slight increase in soil organic matter was observed in both treatments for the 20-60 cm soil depth. Both treatments also showed similar maize yields, but the dairy effluent increased net GHG emissions more than urea during the fertigation period. Nevertheless, the net GHG emissions from the dairy effluent were lower than the theoretical CO2eq emission that would have been emitted during urea manufacturing or the longer storage of the effluent if it had not been used, showing the need for life-cycle assessments. Local-specific emission factors for N2O were determined (0.07%), which were substantially lower than the default value (0.5%) of IPCC 2019. Thus, the subsurface drip irrigation systems can lead to low GHG emissions, although further studies are needed.

[Effect of winter cover crops on the soil microbiome: a systematic literature review]. / Efecto de los cultivos de cobertura invernales sobre el microbioma del suelo: revisión sistemática de la literatura.

The inclusion of winter cover crops (WCC) in no-till (NT) systems in replacement of bare fallow is a promising alternative to improve soil health and consequently, contribute to environmental sustainability of agricultural systems. This review provides a comprehensive evaluation of the effects of the use of WCC in rotation with summer cash crops under NT systems on the soil microbiome versus bare fallows. A systematic literature search was conducted to evaluate the impact of WCC on microbial parameters indicative of abundance, activity and diversity. Twenty-two papers were selected based on seven combined criteria. The results of this review show that enzyme activities in soil are enhanced with the inclusion of WCC in the rotation, particularly those that include legumes and mix of species. In general, more than half of the analyzed papers report higher microbial biomass in soils with WCC than in bare fallow. Interestingly, the effects of WCC on microbial parameters are independent of the duration of the experiments. However, more basic research is necessary to reduce the heterogeneity of the studies and to better understand the complexity of the interactions between WCC and the soil microbiome.

Use of biogas digestates obtained by anaerobic digestion and co-digestion as fertilizers: Characterization, soil biological activity and growth dynamic of Lactuca sativa L.

Agro-industrial systems provide large quantities of organic wastes that could imply an important environmental risk. While manures can be easily treated by anaerobic digestion, horticultural fruit wastes generally cannot be processed alone and should be treated by co-digestion. To use organic wastes as fertilizers is fundamental to improve understanding of their impact on soil-plant systems. In this research, cattle manure, poultry litter, pig slurry and onion waste were collected. Animal manures were studied without treatment, treated by anaerobic digestion alone and in co-digestion with onion wastes. To study their effect on soil-plant systems, chemical and spectroscopic characterization of manures and their transformed products were combined with soil biological activity and growth dynamic of lettuce following wastes incorporation to the soil. Anaerobic digestion decreased the C/N ratio, whilst there was an increase in NH4+-N/N ratio and short-chain organic acids. The magnitude of these changes varied depending on the type of organic matter present in each material and the incorporation of onion wastes intensified them. However, the digestates presented similar structural characteristics to each other, independently of the material of origin. Digestate soil application produced a fast and short microbial stimulation (18-34 and 7-11 mg CO2 during the first 6 h, digestates vs. rest of treatments). The digestate dosage should be done according to the content of NH4+-N given that the vegetal growth is related to it. Soils amended with digestates showed less CO2 emission than soils amended with manures improving overall C balance.