Effect of the addition of cattle slurry plus different types of livestock litter to an acid soil and on the production of grass and corn crops

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to determine how the addition of cattle slurry (S), cattle slurry mixed with sawdust and lime (SL) or cattle slurry mixed with sawdust and crushed (2-4 mm) mussel shells (SM), coming from livestock litter affected the chemical properties of an acid soil and the production in a grass/corn rotation. Bulk and rhizospheric soil were analysed. With respect to the not-treated soil, all the treatments increased pH, exchangeable cations and ECEC, and decreased total N, organic C and exchangeable Al. The lowest variations were observed in S treated plots, while considerable variations occurred in the corn plots treated with SM. In this case, the soil pH reached values up to 6.7, in contrast with the S treated plots that reached pH 5.9. An increase in the concentrations of Ca, Mg and K was also observed. These effects were more evident in the rhizosphere than in the bulk. The addition of both lime and crushed shells increased production and quality of the yield. In SL and SM treated plots the total production of grass was 3.5 to 4-fold the production obtained in S plots. The total production of corn increased by 1095 kg ha ^-1 in the SL-treated plots and 2559 kg ha^{- 1} in SM plots; almost all these increments of production were due to the augmented production of cob. We concluded that the use of crushed mussel shells can be recommended as livestock litter suitable to be distributed in acid soils.