Soil Health Benefits of Manure

Michael Sindelar Author

03/12/2021 Added

56 Plays

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From "Benefits & Barriers to Manure Use" portion of Land Application Training 2021

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[00:00:00.130]So I'm gonna start talking
[00:00:01.060]about environmental benefits today.
[00:00:03.890]And so the first thing I'm gonna have you guys do is
[00:00:09.180]answer a question.
[00:00:11.800]Does manure have any positive effects
[00:00:13.890]on soil and or the environment?
[00:00:16.620]So, when we first look at manure,
[00:00:19.460]one of the biggest things that I've found
[00:00:22.340]is it affects a lot of aggregate stability.
[00:00:26.220]Why is soil aggregate stability important
[00:00:29.580]or how does it?
[00:00:30.580]Well, first how it affects it
[00:00:32.020]is it release is polysaccharides that act as a binding agent
[00:00:36.310]between soil particles.
[00:00:38.410]The soil particles bind together and create
[00:00:42.840]more stable aggregates.
[00:00:44.050]Why are stable aggregates important?
[00:00:46.360]Well, the more stable your aggregates are,
[00:00:48.530]the more immune your soils are to water and wind erosion.
[00:00:52.690]So how do we know this?
[00:00:53.800]Well, we have some studies that I actually looked
[00:00:56.230]at the effects of these.
[00:00:57.990]So coming from here in the state of Nebraska,
[00:01:00.040]cause people like locals data,
[00:01:03.377]we know the first ones was that all manure applied,
[00:01:08.577]increased its,
[00:01:11.130]the macro-aggregate sizes or large aggregates.
[00:01:14.514]Well, why is that important?
[00:01:17.080]Well, when you have larger aggregates,
[00:01:19.660]you're gonna have to require more force from your water
[00:01:23.450]moving through your field,
[00:01:24.510]to actually erode it out of its place.
[00:01:27.120]But think on the reverse of that,
[00:01:28.320]we aren't just facing water issues,
[00:01:31.290]we also, in Nebraska, we have high winds.
[00:01:33.470]So when you have larger aggregate sizes,
[00:01:35.950]you have to have more of a wind power
[00:01:38.070]or wind speed to remove those.
[00:01:40.330]So that's another thing to think about.
[00:01:42.090]The other interesting thing is when we look
[00:01:44.310]at a lot of aggregate stability projects,
[00:01:47.080]or waste, improve that through soil health,
[00:01:50.490]it's rare that we find something
[00:01:52.220]where we see in it,
[00:01:53.310]like an immediate effect of the first year.
[00:01:56.460]When we look at something similar,
[00:01:58.300]cover crops are tended to be used for soil health.
[00:02:01.470]We don't see changes as aggregate stability
[00:02:04.230]especially affecting water erosion,
[00:02:06.290]and so three years in.
[00:02:08.050]And right here we have a study from Nebraska
[00:02:09.990]where we're showing
[00:02:11.320]a result within two weeks, and it persists through the year.
[00:02:15.800]So that's actually really important,
[00:02:18.385]nice benefit from manure.
[00:02:22.500]And so when we look at some actual data,
[00:02:26.900]this is looking at using compost feedlot.
[00:02:30.420]The first part of this graph,
[00:02:33.030]especially when we look up at the top,
[00:02:35.250]we're seeing a decrease in sediment loss,
[00:02:40.420]where we have bare soil
[00:02:41.750]versus when we have the sediment loss.
[00:02:44.330]But another important part is we're seeing
[00:02:46.310]a decrease in runoff.
[00:02:49.010]So why is this important?
[00:02:50.250]Well, one, it means that our soil staying in place,
[00:02:53.610]two it means that we're getting more of that water
[00:02:55.830]entering into our soils.
[00:02:57.695]So there's multiple benefits from that,
[00:03:00.990]besides keeping it,
[00:03:02.840]that water, out of streams
[00:03:05.220]where maybe it's carrying something we don't want it,
[00:03:07.220]we're getting it and keeping it into our fields.
[00:03:10.080]This can also help when we think about large size,
[00:03:13.650]when we start expanding to think about our watershed sizes.
[00:03:17.220]If you have a large rainy event,
[00:03:19.180]and more of those fields are storing that water,
[00:03:22.460]that's gonna decrease the risk
[00:03:24.420]of your waterways overflowing or flooding,
[00:03:28.150]because that water is being held in place by the soil,
[00:03:31.000]or is being stored by the soil.
[00:03:33.200]And this was done about two weeks after application,
[00:03:38.300]and then they came back five years later
[00:03:40.300]and remeasured the parameters.
[00:03:44.640]And you can still see that there was less sediment lost
[00:03:49.490]when they did the rainfall simulation,
[00:03:52.410]when no compost was present versus when they composted it.
[00:03:56.410]And then when we look at runoff, once again,
[00:03:59.670]the gap's not as nice as it was,
[00:04:02.080]but you're still seeing a lot more runoff
[00:04:04.910]when you don't have manure present
[00:04:06.790]versus when you do have it present.
[00:04:10.270]When we look on the flip side of that coin,
[00:04:12.850]there's a study from, it's a very old one,
[00:04:15.310]it's from 1974 Arkansas state,
[00:04:18.670]where they're looking at wind erosion.
[00:04:20.840]And I'm located in the South central part of the state,
[00:04:24.860]this year we're facing a drought.
[00:04:26.770]So there's been a lot of wind erosion
[00:04:28.290]in my area of the state.
[00:04:29.870]And you think back in 2017,
[00:04:31.500]there was another very dry fall
[00:04:33.140]where we had a lot of winter erosion.
[00:04:35.480]And so what they were looking at in this study
[00:04:37.670]was there a plan about 16.7 tons of manure per acre.
[00:04:43.000]They measured using a wind tunnel,
[00:04:45.670]so it wasn't that they were measuring through the years,
[00:04:48.300]they were artificially creating the wind.
[00:04:50.820]They saw after two days of the application
[00:04:53.530]where they applied manure,
[00:04:54.970]they saw less erosion loss to wind forces,
[00:04:58.720]and that soil was held in its place.
[00:05:00.890]And then they came back at day 234,
[00:05:03.830]and that effect was still present.
[00:05:05.340]Where they applied manure,
[00:05:06.910]that soil was being held in place.
[00:05:09.490]And so these are environmental factors,
[00:05:11.850]I mean that, when you have that soil in the air,
[00:05:14.510]that can cause health issues,
[00:05:17.640]but when you think on the flip side,
[00:05:20.010]when you lose soil from your field,
[00:05:23.080]you're losing money from your field,
[00:05:24.720]because you're losing what's ever bound to that soil.
[00:05:28.030]And so if you think about all the nutrients
[00:05:31.400]that are absorbed to soil or bound to soil,
[00:05:33.840]that would be your calcium, your magnesium, your potassium,
[00:05:37.440]that's dollars that you're losing from your field,
[00:05:39.940]that you're gonna have to use something
[00:05:41.010]to supplement it with.
[00:05:44.520]Now, soil health and soil quality isn't just
[00:05:48.150]the physical side,
[00:05:50.530]that's what I kind of focus on a little bit.
[00:05:52.760]We also have the biological component to soil health.
[00:05:56.610]And so with this from a study
[00:05:59.320]of 141 study, is a summary of it.
[00:06:01.990]We saw an increase when we added manure to the fields,
[00:06:05.400]we saw a carbon microbial biomass increase of 42%
[00:06:09.660]and the nitrogen microbial biomass increased by 36%.
[00:06:14.740]Now, the interesting thing about this
[00:06:17.810]is that the study went on to suggest that
[00:06:21.550]this may be a temporary effect.
[00:06:24.670]Think of it as you're feeding your soil.
[00:06:27.200]If you go to some soil health talks,
[00:06:29.760]a lot of people who are big into soil health,
[00:06:31.840]they say the first thing you need to do
[00:06:33.550]is feed your soil first, and then you feed your plants.
[00:06:38.910]And so, right here from this study
[00:06:41.600]we can see that manure is a way to feed your soil first,
[00:06:45.780]and then when we look at our nutrient component,
[00:06:48.920]we still have a chance to feed our plants afterwards.
[00:06:51.860]So that's another benefit of using manure.
[00:06:55.970]And then we start looking,
[00:06:57.310]hydraulic properties is a fancy way of saying
[00:06:59.650]we're looking at our water component to it.
[00:07:03.710]So manure contains a organic carbon component
[00:07:08.030]or an organic matter component.
[00:07:10.600]If you've heard any talks about soil health
[00:07:12.930]or environmental factors,
[00:07:15.370]they're always talking about increasing soil carbon.
[00:07:18.380]Why?
[00:07:19.220]Well, when we look back through multiple research papers,
[00:07:22.210]we always see this relationship
[00:07:24.260]of where as we increase our organic,
[00:07:27.110]our soil organic carbon, we increase our water,
[00:07:30.260]our soil's ability to improve and routine water,
[00:07:33.240]to store water for plant use through the year.
[00:07:36.610]So that's another important key thing
[00:07:38.490]that we could be getting out of our manure.
[00:07:40.910]The other thing is, when you improve aggregate stability,
[00:07:44.980]there tends to be a link of that improving
[00:07:47.570]our water infiltration
[00:07:49.080]or the ability for water to enter into our soils.
[00:07:55.260]So those are two key soil health parameters
[00:07:59.090]on the Waterside that could really help
[00:08:00.670]influence our fields.
[00:08:02.010]And so why are these both important?
[00:08:03.660]Well, one, think about it this way,
[00:08:06.160]it's nice to have a large storage tank
[00:08:08.720]to store water for your plants,
[00:08:10.660]but if you can't fill it up fast
[00:08:12.870]or you can't fill it up at all, it's kind of worthless.
[00:08:15.600]So that's why you need both of these components
[00:08:17.530]to increase in being improved.
[00:08:20.650]And then so with that kind of thinking of,
[00:08:23.246]you know, soil that we benefit soil health wise,
[00:08:27.280]when you have degraded or eroded soils,
[00:08:30.370]where you have low organic matter,
[00:08:32.440]you have low biological activity.
[00:08:35.400]And one of the ways you could test
[00:08:36.470]for biological activity is look for,
[00:08:38.900]your insect activity in your soils.
[00:08:41.740]Do you have a lot of earthworms
[00:08:43.190]or not a lot of earthworms?
[00:08:44.410]That might, that's a simple test to kind of look
[00:08:46.320]to see if you have low biological activity in your soils.
[00:08:50.610]Are your fields commonly experiencing ponding or drown out,
[00:08:55.670]where you can improve from those benefits of water
[00:08:58.260]entering into your soil and being stored in your soils.
[00:09:01.670]And then there's, there's other things,
[00:09:03.340]like do you have non irrigated corners on your fields?
[00:09:07.190]We have a lot of irrigation in the state.
[00:09:09.850]Those non irrigated corners could even benefit
[00:09:12.360]from having manure applied to them,
[00:09:14.550]especially in storing water throughout the season.
[00:09:16.930]They're not gonna get the irrigation events
[00:09:18.850]that rest of that field has.
[00:09:20.930]And then the last one I have up there,
[00:09:24.340]I know in my area I see a lot of corn stalks bald,
[00:09:27.930]and so manure could be a great way
[00:09:30.910]and have a lot of benefit.
[00:09:33.390]Following behind where you're baling corn stalks,
[00:09:35.510]you're applying manure to make up for removing
[00:09:38.280]what you're losing when you build that corn stalks.
[00:09:40.780]So this was a little bit of a faster presentation,
[00:09:45.280]but just to summarize.
[00:09:47.200]Manure improves soil aggregation
[00:09:49.300]in the same year that it's applied,
[00:09:51.420]and that lasts throughout the season
[00:09:54.010]and multiple years beyond that.
[00:09:56.150]Manure can reduce both wind and water erosion.
[00:10:00.660]That's another very important part.
[00:10:02.800]We see an increase in soil microbial biomass
[00:10:05.250]when you apply it,
[00:10:06.340]and it has the potential to improve
[00:10:07.790]water recharge and storage.
[00:10:10.650]So with that, if you have any questions,
[00:10:12.850]thank you for listening to my presentation,
[00:10:15.500]and my contact information is up on the screen.

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Soil Health Benefits of Manure

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