Nitrate Leaching in a Loamy Sand Soil Receiving Two Rates of Liquid Hog Manure and Fertilizer

: The effect of liquid hog manure (LHM) and commercial fertilizer on NO-N leaching was measured for 2 yr in a long-term manure experiment on a loamy sand soil at Carberry, MB. The field experiment, sown to barley ( L.) and wheat ( L.), comprised six treatments including two rates of LHM (28, 084 and 56,168 L ha [2500 and 5000 gal acre, abbreviated LHM-2500 and LHM-5000, respectively]), two rates of fertilizer (abbreviated F-2500 and F-5000) corresponding approximately to available N in LHM-2500 and LHM-5000, compost (abbreviated Com-2500) supplemented with urea to approximate available N in LHM-2500, and an unamended control. In 2010, apparent losses amounted to 79 (112 kg ha), 55 (40 kg ha), 27 (19 kg ha), 24 (16 kg ha), and 6% (8 kg ha) of applied available N in F-5000, Com-2500, F-2500, LHM-2500, and LHM-5000, respectively. In 2011, losses were higher in the F-5000 (80%, 63.6 kg ha) and F-2500 (79%, 31.5 kg ha) treatments than in LHM-5000 (40%, 32 kg ha) and LHM-2500 (9%, 3.5 kg ha). Treatments that received fertilizer lost more than half of the added N by leaching. The lack of yield difference between LHM-2500 and LHM-5000 suggested that application of LHM-2500 was environmentally sound for the coarse sandy soil of the Carberry site. These findings demonstrate the potential for minimizing N leaching through judicious rates of LHM and fertilizer application.