Maize growers planning pre-drilling applications of slurry and AD plant digestate may benefit from protecting against nitrogen volatilisation and nitrate leaching by adding a nitrogen stabiliser to the material they are spreading, suggests Rob Buck of Gleadell Agriculture.
Contractor Oliver Arnold’s team last season used Piadin with AD plant digestate on trial areas of crops grown on contract to Future Biogas.
Oliver Knowland of Future Biogas says that, despite a difficult season in which application was delayed, results from trials with Piadin-treated digestate suggested the product went some way to preventing leaching and volatilisation losses, although weather delays to application caused issues with maturity and harvest date.
"This year we hope to be able to use it with earlier digestate applications, in February and March, and will be adding 1,800 litres to sufficient digestate to cover 3-400ha of the 1,000ha we are growing for two plants, at a digestate application rate of 30-35 cu m/ha."
In trials under comparable north German conditions, biogas maize varieties planted into soils where Piadin-treated slurry had been applied showed an average yield increase of up to 11%. Gleadell is now working with biogas specialists Future Biogas to show the effect Piadin, from German firm SKW Piesteritz, has in practice under UK conditions.
"Piadin will be used on 10% of all energy maize crops this coming year, with defra and energy maize seed breeders carrying out in-depth trials into its environmental effects and yield benefits," adds Rob Buck.
