FAS Abstracts 2004 Meeting Page

Agricultural Sciences (AGR): AGR-22

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Digested food waste effluent (WE) may support crop yields and enhance soil quality.  Field studies were conducted during 2000 and 2001, to evaluate the dry matter yield of Sorghum sudangrass (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) and ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) and soil nitrate status to applied WE.  The experimental design was a Randomized Complete Block (RCB) with 4-replications.  The crops grown during the summer and fall were treated with WE at nitrogen rates of 0, 112, 224 and 336 kg ha^-1.  WE was manually applied in split applications of 50% at planting and 50 % 28 days after panting (DAP).  Soil and above ground plant samples were collected bi-weekly to determine dry matter (DM) accumulation, crop N content and soil nitrate status.  DM yield was significantly higher (P < 0.05) for WE treatments of 224 and 336 kg ha^-1 of N compared to the 0 and 112 kg ha^-1 N rates.  At the higher N rates, Sorghum sundangrass had DM yields up to 39,000 kg ha^-1 while ryegrass was up to 5,248 kg ha^-1.   Soil analysis showed that sudangrass and ryegrass removed up to 334 kg ha^-1 of N.  The results show that waste effluent is a potential organic source of plant nutrients for grasses and perhaps vegetables crops.  The results also indicate that both grasses are good cover crops for preventing nitrate leaching.