Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Florence, South Carolina » Coastal Plain Soil, Water and Plant Conservation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #291986

Title: Dairy manure biochar as a phosphorus fertilizer

Author
item Cantrell, Keri
item Hunt, Patrick
item Miller, Jarrod
item Novak, Jeffrey

Submitted to: Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/11/2013
Publication Date: 2/26/2013
Citation: Cantrell, K.B., Hunt, P.G., Miller, J.O., Novak, J.M. 2013. Dairy manure biochar as a phosphorus fertilizer. In: Meeting Proceedings of the University of Wisconsin Extension 2013 Midwest Manure Summit, February 26-27, 2013, Green Bay, Wisconsin. 14 pp. http://www.midwestmanure.com.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Future manure management practices will need to remove large amounts of organic waste as well as harness energy to generate value-added products. Manures can be processed using thermochemical conversion technologies to generate a solid product called biochar. Dairy manure biochars contain sufficient concentrations of phosphorous that are readily available to plants. When applied at agronomic rates, manure biochars perform similar to commercial phosphorus fertilizers; more importantly, the biochars were not detrimental to plant growth. Because of the high phosphorous content, manure biochars need to be managed as fertilizers rather than as a carbon-building amendment.