Value & Necessity of slurry injecting

Thanks to the increasing intensification of agricultural practices, forage yields have become even more important. The quality and quantity of the feed also help determine the farm’s returns. Also, the application system (animal fertilizer) used has a great influence on the final results. Slurry injection has been proven to be the most cost effective way of manure application.

Slurry is nutritional

The key elements in manure and digestate are nitrogen (N), potassium (K), phosphorus (P) & magnesium (Mg). In particular nitrogen and phosphorus are vital for plant growth, vitality and therefore quality. Animal manure and digestate are therefore high quality sources of crop nutrients! You see, muck is brass!

Emission makes the difference

Emission* is an evaporation process, and therefore dependent on the weather. Radiation, humidity, wind, manure composition, temperature and the amount of manure have influence on the evaporation process itself, and also on nitrogen loss. The surface area of the slurry with the surrounding air also plays a great part in the evaporation process.
* Loss of nitrogen is very much dependent upon the weather - this applies to all application technologies.

Application condition

Splash plate

  • crop contamination
  • plant-burn over the entire surface area
  • partial growth up with solid manure parts
  • not grazable in the first weeks
  • poor absorption - approximately 70% nitrogen loss

Dribble bar

  • crop contamination in strips
  • plant-burn in strips
  • partial plant-growth with manure particles
  • loss of crop
  • not grazable for the first few days
  • poor absorption - approximately 40% nitrogen loss!

Slit coulter

  • manure lies on the crop and partially in the soil
  • plant-burn in strips
  • loss of crop (coulter & overlying manure)
  • not grazable for the first few days
  • poor absorption - approximately 30% nitrogen loss!

Vredo slurry injector

  • manure in the slot at the roots
  • no plant-burn
  • no loss of crop (grass and roots pushed aside)
  • directly grazable
  • perfect absorption - only about 10% nitrogen loss!

The results

The key question is what slurry application does for you and/or your customer. On this page you can see the difference between the various application technologies in terms of yield (Kgdm) and how much extra artificial fertilizer needs to be used just to reach the yield levels achieved by a Vredo slurry injector. In short, fertilizing grassland with a Vredo slurry injector leads to:

  • 35% more utilization of available nitrogenous compounds from cattle slurry
  • 41% more utilization of available nitrogenous compounds from pig slurry

This increased use of valuable nitrogen compounds results in:

  1. Better absorption of nutrients
  2. Reduced need of artificial fertilizers
  3. No smearing
  4. A qualitatively better crop
  5. A higher yield - 1 to 2 additional cuts (in dry weather)

This graph (right) shows the superior performance of the slurry injector in comparison with other application technologies.

Economical with artificial fertilizer

The various slurry application technologies affect the absorption/utilization of the nutrients in the slurry, by employing the best application technology, one can save on the artificial fertilizer costs needed to achieve optimum results. The following graph displays the amount of artificial fertilizer needed in order to obtain comparable returns as when compared to a Vredo slurry injector only.

Iniettori per liquami | Veicoli semoventi | Veicoli semoventi con serbatoi di liquami per l'applicazione di liquami