Feasibility of Rock Phosphate and Other Amendments in Preventing P Deficiency in Barley on a P-Deficient Soil in Northeastern Saskatchewan

Cecil L.  Vera; Sukhdev S.  Malhi; Stewart A.  Brandt

doi:10.4236/as.2014.514160

Sukhdev S. Malhi^1,2, Cecil L. Vera¹^*, Stewart A. Brandt²

Abstract: In the Canadian Prairies, many soils on organic farms are low in available P, and the only alternative is to use external sources to prevent P nutrient deficiency on these soils. A 3-year (2012 to 2014) field experiment was established in spring 2012 on a P-deficient soil near Kelvington, Saskatchewan, Canada, to determine the potential of organic amendments (alfalfa pellets, compost manure, thin stillage and distiller grain dry of wheat), inorganic amendments (rock phosphate granular, rock phosphate fine, wood ash and bone meal ash) and microbial inoculants/products (JumpStart® and MYKE®PRO), applied alone or in a combination with N and/or P commercial fertilizers, in preventing P deficiency and increasing seed yield, N and P uptake of barley. Compared to unfertilized control, N only treatment did not result in any significant increase in seed yield, while application of P alone increased seed yield significantly but to a lesser degree than when both N and P fertilizers were applied together in all 3 years. Rock phosphate did not result in any seed yield benefit, even when applied along with N fertilizer. Wood ash fine increased seed yield of barley significantly only in the presence of N fertilizer, with highest seed yield in the presence of both N + P fertilizers. Seed yield of barley increased moderately with alfalfa pellets, significantly with compost manure, and considerably with distiller grain dry of wheat, but highest seed yield was obtained from thin stillage, which was essentially similar to that obtained from the N + P fertilizer combination. There was no yield benefit from JumpStart or MykePro in any year and only slight benefit from bone meal ash in 2013. The addition of N fertilizer to MykePro or bone meal ash treatments increased seed yield, but highest yield was obtained when both N and P fertilizers were added, suggesting a lack of available P for optimum seed yield. With few exceptions, the response trends of total N and P uptake in seed + straw to the amendments studied were generally similar to those of seed yield. In conclusion, the organic amendment “thin stillage” provided balanced nutrition and produced yield and nutrient uptake of barley similar to balanced N + P fertilizer treatment, and it was closely followed by “distiller grain dry of wheat”, with moderate benefit from compost manure and some benefit from alfalfa pellets. In this extremely P-deficient soil, rock phosphate was not found effective in preventing P deficiency in barley, while wood ash and bone meal ash provided moderate increase in barley yield, with little yield benefit from JumpStart and MykePro, when other nutrients were not limiting in the soil.

Keywords: Cereals, Inorganic Amendments, N Uptake, Organic Amendments, P-Deficiency, Rock Phosphate, Seed Yield

Cite this paper: Malhi, S. , Vera, C. and Brandt, S. (2014) Feasibility of Rock Phosphate and Other Amendments in Preventing P Deficiency in Barley on a P-Deficient Soil in Northeastern Saskatchewan. Agricultural Sciences, 5, 1491-1500. doi: 10.4236/as.2014.514160.

References

[1] Zentner, R.P., Basnyat, P., Brandt, S.A., Thomas, A.G., Ulrich, D., Campbell, C.A., Nagy, C.N., Frick, B., Lemke, R., Malhi, S.S. and Fernandez, M.R. (2011) Input Management and Crop Diversity: Effects on Economic Returns and Riskiness of Cropping Systems in the Semiarid Canadian Prairie. Renewable Agricultural Food Systems, 26, 1-16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1742170510000591

[2] Macey, A. (2006) Certified Organic Production in Canada. Canadian Organic Growers. (Online)
http://www.cog.ca

[3] Entz, M.H., Guilford, R. and Gulden, R. (2001) Crop Yield and Soil Nutrient Status on 14 Organic Farms in the Eastern Part of the Northern Great Plains. Canadian Journal of Plant Science, 81, 351-354.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4141/P00-089

[4] Jans, D. (2001) Organic Needs Assessment: Results of Workshops and Questionnaires. Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food, Saskatchewan.

[5] Watson, C.A., Atkinson, P., Gosling, P., Jackson, L.R. and Ryans, F.W. (2002) Managing Soil Fertility in Organic Farming Systems. Soil Use and Management, 18, 239-247.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1079/SUM2002131

[6] Malhi, S.S., Brandt, S.A., Lemke, R., Moulin, A.P. and Zentner, R.P. (2009) Effects of Input Level and Crop Diversity on Soil Nitrate-N, Extractable P, Aggregation, Organic C and N, and N and P Balance in the Canadian Prairie. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems, 84, 1-22.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10705-008-9220-0

[7] Miller, P.R., Buschena, D.E., Jones, C.A. and Holmes, J.A. (2009) Transition from Intensive Tillage to No-Tillage and Organic Diversified Cropping Systems. Agronomy Journal, 100, 591-599.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2134/agronj2007.0190

[8] Hoyt, P.B. and Leitch, R.H. (1983) Effects of Forage Legume Species on Soil Moisture, Nitrogen, and Yield of Succeeding Barley Crops. Canadian Journal of Soil Science, 63, 125-136.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4141/cjss83-012

[9] Foster, R.K. (1990) Effect of Tillage Implement and Date of Sweetclover Incorporation on Available Soil N and Succeeding Spring Wheat Yields. Canadian Journal of Soil Science, 70, 269-277.

[10] Townley-Smith, L., Slinkard, A.E., Bailey, L.D., Biederbeck, V.O. and Rice W.A. (1993) Productivity, Water Use and Nitrogen Fixation of Annual Legume Green-Manure Crops in the Dark Brown Soil Zone of Saskatchewan. Canadian Journal of Plant Science, 73, 139-148.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4141/cjps93-017

[11] Izaurralde, R.C., Nyborg, M., Solberg, E.D., Janzen, H.H., Arshad, M.A., Malhi, S.S. and Molina-Ayala, M. (1998) Carbon Storage in Eroded Soils after Five Years of Reclamation Techniques. In: Lal, R., Kimble, J.M., Follett, R.F. and Stewart, B.A., Eds., Soil Processes and the Carbon Cycle, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 369-385.

[12] Schoenau, J.J. (2000) The Value of Manure. Proceedings of the Manure Management 2000 Conference, Calgary, 28 June 2000, 2-5.

[13] Araji, A.A., Abdo, Z.O. and Joyce, P. (2001) Efficient Use of Animal Manure on Cropland—Economic Analysis. Bioresearch Technology, 79, 179-191. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0960-8524(01)00042-6

[14] Fleming, R.A. and Long, J.D. (2002) Measuring Cost of Restricting Access to Cropland for Manure Nutrient Management. Agronomy Journal, 94, 57-64. http://dx.doi.org/10.2134/agronj2002.0057

[15] Feinerman, E., Bosch, D.J. and Pease, J.W. (2004) Manure Applications and Nutrient Standards. American Journal of Agriculture Economics, 86, 14-25.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0092-5853.2004.00559.x

[16] Ribaudo, M., Cattaneo, A. and Agopoff, J. (2004) Cost of Meeting Manure Nutrient Standards in Hog Production: The Roles of EQIP and Fertilizer Offsets. Review of Agriculture Economics, 26, 430-444.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9353.2004.00192.x

[17] Keplinger, K.O. and Hauck, L.M. (2006) The Economics of Manure Utilization: Model and Application. Journal of Agricultural Research Economics, 31, 414-440.

[18] Huang, C.L. and Schulte, E.E. (1985) Digestion of Plant Tissue for Analysis by ICP-AES. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis, 16, 943-958.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00103628509367657

[19] Association of Official Analytical Chemists (1995) Protein (Crude) in Animal Feed. Combustion Method (990.03). Official Methods of Analysis. 16th Edition, AOAC, Washington DC.

[20] SAS Institute Inc. (2004) Online Documentation for SAS, Version 8.
http://support.sas.com/documentation/onlinedoc/index.html

[21] Akande, M.O., Adediran, J.A. and Oluwatoyinbo, F.I. (2005) Effects of Rock Phosphate Amended with Poultry Manure on Soil Available P and Yield of Maize and Cowpea. African Journal of Biotechnology, 4, 444-448.

[22] Blackshaw, R.E. (2005) Nitrogen Fertilizer, Manure, and Compost Effects on Weed Growth and Competition with Spring Wheat. Agronomy Journal, 97, 1612-1621.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2134/agronj2005.0155

[23] Chalk, P.M., Souze, R.F., Urquiaga, B.J.R. and Boddey, R.M. (2006) The Role of Arbuscular Mychorrhiza in Legume Sybiotic Performance. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 38, 2944-2951.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2006.05.005

[24] Haque, I., Lupwayi, N.Z. and Ssali, H. (1999) Agronomic Evaluation of Unacidulated and Partially Acidulated Minjingu and Chilembwe Phosphate Rocks for Clover Production in Ethiopia. European Journal of Agronomy, 10, 37-47.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1161-0301(98)00048-3

[25] Jeng, A.S., Haraldsen, T.K., Gronlund, R. and Pedersen, P.A. (2009) Meat and Bone Meal as Nitrogen and Phosphorus Fertilizer to Cereals and Ryegrass. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems, 76, 183-191.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10705-005-5170-y

[26] Kucey, R.M.N. (1987) Increased Phosphorus Uptake by Wheat and Field Beans Inoculated with a Phosphorus-Solubilizing Penicillium bilaji Strain and with Vesicular-Arbuscular Mycorrhizal fungi. Applied Environmental Microbiology, 53, 2699-2703.

[27] Rick, T.L., Jones, C.A., Engel, R.E. and Miller, P.R. (2011) Green Manure and Phosphate Rock Effects on Phosphorus Availability in a Northern Great Plains Dryland Organic Cropping System. Organic Agriculture, 1, 81-90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13165-011-0007-2

[28] Bolland, M. and Gilkes, B. (1990) The Poor Performance of Rock Phosphate Fertilizers in Western Australia: Part 1. The Crop and Pasture Responses. Agricultural Sciences, 3, 43-48.

[29] Malhi, S.S. (2012) Relative Effectiveness of Various Amendments in Improving Yield and Nutrient Uptake under Organic Crop Production. Open Journal of Soil Science, 2, 299-311.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojss.2012.23036

[30] Beckie, H.J., Schlechte, D., Moulin, A.P., Gleddie, S.C. and Pulkinen, D.A. (1998) Response of Alfalfa to Inoculation with Penicillium bilaii (Provide). Canadian Journal of Plant Science, 78, 91-102. http://dx.doi.org/10.4141/P97-043

[31] Vessey, J.K. and Heisinger, K.G. (2001) Effect of Penicillium bilaiae Inoculation and Phosphorus Fertilisation on Root and Shoot Parameters of Field-Grown Pea. Canadian Journal of Plant Science, 81, 361-366. http://dx.doi.org/10.4141/P00-083

[32] Gleddie, S.C., Schlechte, D. and Turnbull, G. (1993) Effect of Inoculation with Penicillium bilaii (Provide®) on Phosphate Uptake and Yield of Canola in Western Canada. Proceedings of Alberta Soil Science Workshop, Edmonton, 22-24 February1993, 155-160.

[33] Goos, R.J., Johnson, B.E. and Stack, R.W. (1994) Penicillium billaie and Phosphorus Fertilization Effects on the Growth, Development, Yield and Common Root Rot Severity of Spring Wheat. Fertilizer Research, 39, 97-103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00750908

[34] Malhi, S.S., Vera, C.L. and Brandt, S.A. (2013) Relative Effectiveness of Organic and Inorganic Nutrient Sources in Improving Yield, Seed Quality and Nutrient Uptake of Canola. Agricultural Sciences, 4, 1-18. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/as.2013.412A001