The effect of fertilization with the digestate on the quality and chemical composition of selected plants intended for biogas production
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Date
2022
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Instytut Uprawy Nawożenia i Gleboznawstwa – Państwowy Instytut Badawczy w Puławach
Abstract
Description
The aim of the studies was to determine the effect of
fertilization with mineral fertilizers and the digestate from an
agricultural biogas plant on selected plant parameters. In 2016
a three-year two-factor field experiment was established, where
the first factor was the fertilization variant and the second factor
was the plant species (triticale, maize, sorghum). Fertilization was
carried out on two dates: pre-sowing and top-dressing. The first
variant consisted of nitrogen fertilization, exclusively mineral; in
the second variant, plants were fertilized before sowing with digestate,
and then top-dressed with mineral fertilizer; while in the
third variant, in both terms, plants were fertilized with digestate.
The quality of biomass was examined in terms of its chemical
composition and as a raw material for biogas production. Regardless
of the applied variant of fertilization, the plants tested were
equally well supplied with nitrogen. Fertilization with digestate
increased the C:N ratio in the biomass of sorghum (which deviated
from the optimal value for effective anaerobic fermentation
process), lowered the crude fibre content in the biomass of
triticale, but also increased the content of cellulose in triticale.
Fertilization with digestate makes it possible to give up mineral
nitrogen fertilization, without negative influence on the quality
and chemical composition (including crude fibre and lignin fractions)
of triticale and maize used as biogas substrates.
Keywords
biogas, mineral fertilization, digestate, triticale, maize, sorghum
Citation
Polish Journal of Agronomy 2022, 48, 28-36