Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and University
of Guelph researchers are exploring ways to apply liquid
manure to create the least amount of environmental impact.
For Dr. Bonnie Ball-Coelho, a research scientist with AAFC,
the focus over the past five years has been on how to combine
manure applications with minimum till. She and her
team have found that combining conservation techniques
with manure applications is not only possible but can also
achieve corn yields equivalent to conventional tillage and
inorganic fertilizer combinations. What type of equipment you use can also make a difference
with the spring application, she adds. The tine type of tilling
system used in the studies resulted in less of a negative impact
on growth or germination when the manure was highly concentrated
than the two other knife-type systems used. The main push of this and other studies is to improve the
agronomic availability of nutrients – improve the bottom
line for the farmer – and keep nutrients and bacteria
from places we don’t want them to be.