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Long-term test facility for testing of conventional and enhanced efficiency nitrogen fertilisers

Background

Fertiliser nitrogen (N) is a cornerstone input in many intensive agricultural systems including those prevalent in Irish temperate grassland. In the accounting period October 1st 2015 to September 30th 2016 sales of fertiliser N were 339,104 tonnes N nationally (DAFM, 2017). This nutrient addition plays a critical role in yield enhancement but is also susceptible to environmental loss through leaching, denitrification and volatilisation loss pathways. Different N fertiliser have different loss susceptibilities and the arrival of enhanced efficiency fertilisers has provided new opportunities for sustaining yields, enhancing fertiliser efficiency and reducing environmental losses.

Figure 1. A selection of conventional and enhanced efficiency N fertilsiers

Recent research has shown that nitrogen fertiliser selection affects nitrous oxide emissions (Harty et al., 2016), ammonia emissions (Forrestal et al., 2016), yield and N fertiliser efficiency (Forrestal et al., 2017; Harty et al., 2017) in Irish grassland. Development of additives to enhance the efficiency of N fertiliser is continuing apace. Testing of these new options in Irish conditions is an area of critical importance for Irish agriculture as enhanced efficiency N fertilisers provide opportunity to sustain the N inputs which underpin production while reducing environmental loss; potentially helping Irish agriculture to realise the goals of sustainable growth outlined in the Food Wise 2025 strategy 

Figure 2. Ariel view of long-term N fertiliser N testing facility at Johnstown Castle 

Objectives of establishing a long-term N fertiliser testing facility

  • Assessment of the impact of conventional and enhanced efficiency N fertilisers on long-term agronomic performance along with environmental, soil chemical and microbiological factors and function
  • Provision of a facility capable of testing of new N fertilisers for agronomic and environmental parameters

Figure 3. Ammonia, yield, N efficiency, nitrous oxide and leaching test capacity at long-term facility

 

  • Capitalising on test facility capacity to test sensing and low-power communication technologies

Figure 4. CONNECT Pervasive Nation IoT Low power wide area network platform deployment (top), optical, smart phone and plate meter sensing/measurement (bottom)

Researchers

  • Patrick Forrestal
  • John Murphy
  • Dominika Krol
  • Gary Lanigan
  • Karl Richards

Location: Teagasc Environmental Research Centre, Johnstown Castle, Wexford.

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the core support from Teagasc to support the establishment and maintenance of this long term-facility.

References

Forrestal, P.J., Harty, M.A., Carolan, R., Watson, C.J., Lanigan, G.J., Wall, D.P., Hennessy, D., Richards, K.G. 2017. Can the agronomic performance of urea equal calcium ammonium nitrate across nitrogen rates in temperate grassland? Soil Use and Management DOI: 10.1111/sum.12341.

Forrestal, P.J., Harty, M., Carolan, R., Lanigan, G.J., Watson, C.J., Laughlin, R.J., McNeill, G., Chambers, B. and Richards, K.G. 2016. Ammonia emissions from urea, stabilised urea and calcium ammonium nitrate: insights into loss abatement in temperate grassland. Soil Use and Management. 32: 92-100.

Harty, M.A., Forrestal, P.J., Watson, C.J., McGeough, K.L., Carolan, R., Elliot, C., Krol, D.J., Laughlin, R.J., Richards, K.G., and Lanigan, G.J. Reducing nitrous oxide emissions by changing N fertiliser use from calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) to urea based formulations. 2016. Science of the Total Environment. 563-564: 576-586.  

Harty, M.A., Forrestal, P.J., Carolan, R., Watson, C.J., Hennessy, D., Lanigan, G.J., Wall, D.P and Richards, K.G. 2017. Temperate grassland yields and nitrogen uptake are influenced by fertilizer nitrogen source. Agronomy Journal. 109: 1-9