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The Balance Between Capturing Phosphorus from Manure and Wastewater and the Demand for Crop Fertilizer in Italy

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Abstract

Phosphorus (P) is an essential nutrient required for plant growth and at the same time a costly pollutant, which can cause eutrophication of water bodies. Modern agriculture relies heavily on mineral fertilisers, which contain phosphorus derived from phosphate rock, because, without regular applications, crop yields would be limited. Since phosphate rock is a non-renewable resource, there are growing concerns regarding future phosphorus scarcity and the sustainability of modern agriculture. For many farmers, animal manure was once a means of maintaining soil fertility, but now it presents a major operational problem. This study evaluated the possibility of recycling phosphorus on a national and regional scale in Italy, using major sources of manure and wastewater. These results were successively compared with an estimate of the agricultural demand for phosphorus. Considering the quantity of phosphorus fertilizer that was applied to the soil–plant system, for the years 2001–2010, the annual phosphorus requirement of Italian crops was about 101,000 t of P. Therefore, the phosphorus source comprising animal manure and civil/industrial waste (117,500 t of P and 40,000 t of P, respectively) could potentially satisfy the average annual agronomic phosphorus demand. Regarding the geographical distribution of phosphorus supply and demand on a regional scale, areas with a large deficit of phosphorus included Calabria, Puglia and Marche. However, when only livestock waste was considered, Sicily, Umbria and Friuli could also be considered to be regions experiencing a phosphorus deficit.

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Acknowledgements

This work forms part of two research projects supported by grant of the Basilicata Region: the research project entitled “Innovative techniques for monitoring and management of municipal solid waste landfills and remediation of contaminated sites—POLLUTECH” (Contract Cod. No. 2/AP/05/2013REG-CUP G43G13000410009), in which Donatella Caniani is the principal investigator and the project “Smart Basilicata” (Contract n. 6386—3, 20 July 2016). Smart Basilicata was approved by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (Notice MIUR n. 84/Ric 2012, PON 2007–2013 of 2 March 2012) and was funded with the Cohesion Fund 2007–2013 of the Basilicata Regional authority.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Engineering, University of Basilicata, Viale dell’Ateneo Lucano n. 10, 85100, Potenza, Italy

    Donatella Caniani, Carmine Schiavone, Maria Carmela Lo Ponte, Salvatore Masi, Ignazio M. Mancini & Marianna Caivano

  2. School of Agricultural, Forests, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, Viale dell’Ateneo Lucano n. 10, 85100, Potenza, Italy

    Mauro Viccaro & Mario Cozzi

Authors
  1. Donatella Caniani
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  2. Mauro Viccaro
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  3. Carmine Schiavone
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  4. Maria Carmela Lo Ponte
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  5. Salvatore Masi
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  6. Ignazio M. Mancini
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  7. Marianna Caivano
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  8. Mario Cozzi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mauro Viccaro.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 7 and 8.

Table 7 Phosphorus inputs from manure per region and Italy overall, both annually and monthly (tonnes P)
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Table 8 Phosphorus requirements per region and Italy overall, both annually and monthly (tonnes P)
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Caniani, D., Viccaro, M., Schiavone, C. et al. The Balance Between Capturing Phosphorus from Manure and Wastewater and the Demand for Crop Fertilizer in Italy. Nat Resour Res 28 (Suppl 1), 77–92 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11053-018-9426-z

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