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Fertilization of SRC Willow, II: Leaching and Element Balances

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An Erratum to this article was published on 07 November 2013

Abstract

Short rotation coppice (SRC) willow is an emerging cropping system in focus for production of biomass for energy. To increase production, the willow is commonly fertilized, but studies have shown differing effects of fertilization on biomass production, ranging from almost no response to considerable positive effects. Focus has also been on replacing mineral fertilizer with organic waste products, such as manure and sludge. However, the effect on biomass production and environmental impact of various dosage and types of fertilizer is not well described. Therefore we studied the environmental impacts of different doses of mineral fertilizer, manure and sewage sludge in a commercially grown SRC willow stand. We examined macro nutrient and heavy metal leaching rates and calculated element balances to evaluate the environmental impact. Growth responses were reported in a former paper (Sevel et al. “Fertilization of SRC Willow, I: Biomass Production Response” Bioenergy Research, 2013). Nitrogen leaching was generally low, between 1 and 7 kg N ha−1 year−1 when doses of up to 120 kg N ha−1 year−1 were applied. Higher doses of 240 and 360 kg N ha−1 as single applications caused leaching of 66 and 99 kg N ha−1 year−1, respectively, indicating N saturation of the system. Previous intensive farming including high doses of fertilizer may be responsible for a high soil N status and the high N leaching rates. However, moderate fertilization input could not compensate P and K exports with the biomass harvest. No elevated leaching of heavy metals was observed for any fertilization treatments and more cadmium than applied with the fertilizer was removed with the biomass from the system.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by HedeDanmark A/S, Dalgas Innovation, the Danish Agency for Science Technology and Innovation and Forest & Landscape, Copenhagen University. We greatly acknowledge Nordic Biomass for kindly providing a well-established SRC willow field for this experiment and for their help in the field work. Yara Denmark is acknowledged for kindly providing the mineral fertilizer. We thank Allan Overgaard Nielsen, Xhevat Haliti and Allan Nielsen for field work assistances in the establishment of the experiment and Jens Bonderup Kjeldsen, Aarhus University, for help and provision of TDR equipment. Lastly, we thank Johannes Falk and Vibe Gro for valuable discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dalgasgroup, 12 Klostermarken, 8800, Viborg, Denmark

    Lisbeth Sevel

  2. Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, 23 Rolighedsvej, 1958, Frederiksberg C, Denmark

    Morten Ingerslev, Thomas Nord-Larsen & Karsten Raulund-Rasmussen

  3. Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, P.O.Box 50, 8830, Tjele, Denmark

    Uffe Jørgensen & Kirsten Schelde

  4. Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, 40 Thorvaldsensvej 40, 1871, Frederiksberg C, Denmark

    Peter E. Holm

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  1. Lisbeth Sevel
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Correspondence to Lisbeth Sevel.

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Sevel, L., Ingerslev, M., Nord-Larsen, T. et al. Fertilization of SRC Willow, II: Leaching and Element Balances. Bioenerg. Res. 7, 338–352 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-013-9370-z

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