Abstract

Catastrophic floods have large effect on agricultural land both in short and long term. In this chapter, examples of impact of floods of different size in cold regions with glaziers have been presented. The largest floods occur as combination of heavy rainfall and melting and snow and ice in the mountainous areas. Periods of waterlogging by cold running water resulted in decreased yields, but N-fertilization after the soil no longer was water saturated could reduce the yield loss considerably. Although the floods cause severe erosion and sedimentation, results show that it is possible to find measures for reconstruction of the soils with the same productivity as undamaged soils, while the average result was about 85% of the original productivity.

Abstract

Cultivation of strawberries in greenhouses and polytunnels is increasing, and new sustainable growing media are needed to replace peat and coconut coir. This study investigated the effect of wood fiber and compost as growing media on hydroponically cultivated strawberries. Two experiments were conducted, where the everbearing cultivar ‘Murano’ was grown in mixtures of wood fiber and compost (Experiment 1) and the seasonal flowering cultivar ‘Malling Centenary’ was grown in mixtures of wood fiber and peat (Experiment 2). Additionally, in Experiment 2, the effect of adding start fertilizer was assessed. The yield potential of ‘Murano’ plants was maintained in all substrates compared to the coconut coir control. However, a mixture of 75% wood fiber and 25% compost produced the highest yield, suggesting that mixtures of nutritious materials with wood fiber may improve plant performance. The chemical composition of the berries was not affected by the substrate composition; however, berries from plants grown in the best performing blend had a lower firmness than those grown in coconut coir. ‘Malling Centenary’ plants produced higher yields in substrates enriched with start fertilizer. Generally, the productivity of ‘Malling Centenary’ plants was maintained in blends containing up to 75% of wood fiber mixture even without start fertilizer.

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Abstract

Plant selection for rain gardens along streets and roads in cold climates can be complicated, as the plants are subjected to combined stresses including periodic inundation, de-icing salts, road dust, splashes of water from the road, freezing and thawing of soil, and periods with ice cover during the winter. The purpose of this study was to identify species suited to grow in these conditions and determine their optimal placement within roadside rain gardens. Thirty-one herbaceous perennial species and cultivars were planted in real-scale rain gardens in a street in Drammen (Norway) with supplemental irrigation, and their progress was recorded during the following three growing seasons. The study highlights considerable differences between species’ adaptation to roadside rain gardens in cold climates, especially closest to the road. Some candidate species/cultivars had a high survival rate in all rain garden positions and were developed well. These were: Amsonia tabernaemontana, Baptisia australis, Calamagrostis × acutiflora ‘Overdam’, Hemerocallis ‘Camden Gold Dollar’, Hemerocallis ‘Sovereign’, Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus, Hosta ‘Sum & Substance’, Iris pseudacorus and Liatris spicata ‘Floristan Weiss’. Other species/cultivars appeared to adapt only to certain parts of the rain garden or had medium tolerance. These were: Calamagrostis brachytricha, Carex muskingumensis, Eurybia × herveyi ‘Twilight’, Hakonechloa macra, Hosta ‘Francee’, Hosta ‘Striptease’, Liatris spicata ‘Alba’, Lythrum salicaria ‘Ziegeunerblut’, Molinia caerulea ‘Moorhexe’, Molinia caerulea ‘Overdam’, and Sesleria autumnalis. Species/cultivars that showed high mortality and poor development at all rain garden positions should be avoided in roadside cold climate rain gardens. These include Amsonia orientalis, Aster incisus ‘Madiva’, Astilbe chinensis var. tacquettii ‘Purpurlanze’, Chelone obliqua, Dryopteris filix-mas, Eurybia divaricata, Geranium ‘Rozanne’, Helenium ‘Pumilum Magnificum’, Luzula sylvatica, Polygonatum multiflorum and Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Apollo’. The study also found considerable differences between cultivars within the same species, especially for Hosta cvv. and Liatris spicata. Further investigations are needed to identify the cultivars with the best adaption to roadside rain gardens in cold climates.

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Abstract

This paper presents results from a container experiment and a real-scale study in road environments for evaluating the performance of soil mixtures and herbaceous perennials for use in rain gardens. The container experiment included 12 soil mixtures and 4 perennial species. The plants were exposed to three flooding events and one drought period, and their overall vitality was recorded after the floodings. The containers were stored outdoors the following winter and plant survival was observed in spring. Amsonia orientalis did not survive the winter after being exposed to flooding in the growing season and was replaced by Hosta ‘Francee’ in the real-scale study, which was established in Drammen (Norway) in a soil mixture based on optimisation of the best mixtures in the container experiment. Luzula sylvatica performed well in the container study and survived the winter; however, in the field study, individuals of this species that were located close to the road died due to de-icing salt. Eurybia divaricata showed some mortality in both studies, and total mortality occurred in individuals that were close to the road, due to de-icing salt. Hemerocallis cvv. performed well in both experiments and appeared to be useful in all rain garden positions in the cold climate road environment. H. ‘Francee’ developed well in the road environment, except when exposed to splashes of road water. The study highlights considerable differences between species’ adaption to roadside rain gardens in cold climates, and the need for further field investigations.

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to contribute to the development of pelleted compound recycling fertilizerswith favourable handling and spreading characteristics and balanced nutrient ratios by combiningnitrogen (N)- and phosphorus (P)-rich waste resources (meat bone meal, fish sludge or food waste)with potassium (K)-rich bottom wood ash. Pelleted compound recycling fertilizers with gooddurability and low dusting tendency were produced by roll-pelleting preheated waste resources at asuitable moisture content. However, the nutrient ratios in the final products were insufficientlybalanced, with too low N concentrations relative to P and K to meet crop demands. In a bioassayusing barley ( Hordeum vulgare) and a nutrient-deficient sand/peat mixture, the relative agronomiceffectiveness (RAE) of pelleted compound recycling fertilizers and reference recycling fertilizers was22–42% of that of mineral compound fertilizer. Growth limitation was due to reduced N availability(mineral fertilizer equivalent - MFE = 35–57%) or reduced P availability (MFE = 20–115%), with thegreatest P fertilizer value obtained for digestate based on dairy manure and fish sludge. Availability ofK in bottom wood ash was masked by the experimental soil.

Abstract

Application of fish sludge as fertiliser to agricultural land can contribute to closing nutrient cycles in fish farming. The effect of different treatment technologies on the nitrogen fertilisation effects of fish sludge was studied by a bioassay with barley (Hordeum vulgare), an incubation and a field experiment. Dried fish sludge resulted in relative agronomic efficiency of 50–80% compared with mineral fertiliser. The anaerobic digestate based on fish sludge (20 vol%) and dairy manure did not increase nitrogen uptake in barley. Increasing the ratio of fish sludge in the digestate increased the fertilisation effect, but requires optimisation of the biogas process. A simple logistics analysis conducted for a case hatchery showed that on-site drying and co-digestion of fish sludge in a central biogas plant can be regarded as equal in terms of costs. Norway can become an exporter of fish sludge-based recycling fertilisers if current regulations are modified to facilitate nutrient recycling.

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Abstract

Minable rock phosphate is a finite resource. Replacing mineral phosphorus (P) fertilizer with P-rich secondary resources is one way to manage P more efficiently, but the importance of physicochemical and microbial soil processes induced by secondary resources for plant P uptake is still poorly understood. Using radioactive-labeling techniques, the fertilization effects of dairy manure, fish sludge, meat bone meal, and wood ash were studied as P uptake by barley after 44 days and compared with those of water-soluble mineral P (MinP) and an unfertilized control (NoP) in a pot experiment with an agricultural soil containing little available P at two soil pH levels, approximately pH 5.3 (unlimed soil) and pH 6.2 (limed soil). In a parallel incubation experiment, the effects of the secondary resources on physicochemical and microbial soil processes were studied. The results showed that the relative agronomic efficiency compared with MinP decreased in the order: manure ≥fish sludge ≥wood ash ≥meat bone meal. The solubility of inorganic P in secondary resources was the main driver for P uptake by barley (Hordeum vulgare). The effects of secondary resources on physicochemical and microbial soil processes were of little overall importance. Application of organic carbon with manure resulted in microbial P immobilization and decreased uptake by barley of P derived from the soil. On both soils, P uptake by barley was best explained by a positive linear relationship with the H2O + NaHCO3-soluble inorganic P fraction in fertilizers or by a linear negative relationship with the HCl-soluble inorganic P fraction in fertilizers.

Abstract

Mineable rock phosphate is a limited resource. Replacing mineral phosphorus (P) fertiliser with P-rich secondary resources is one way to manage P more efficiently. The Norwegian potential to replace mineral P fertiliser with total P in secondary resources was analysed here using substance flow analysis. The results obtained were integrated with data on P plant-availability in secondary resources and showed that, theoretically, plant-available P in manure alone could fulfil the Norwegian demand for P fertiliser. However, P in manure is inefficiently utilised due to the geographical segregation of animal husbandry and arable farming, which contributes to considerable P over-application to agricultural soil. In Norway, agriculture and aquaculture drive P consumption and losses at similar levels, and the amount of P in fish excrement and feed losses from off-shore aquaculture pens (fish sludge) is of the same order of magnitude as P in manure. Fish sludge is currently not collected or utilised, but lost to coastal marine waters. All other secondary resources represent relatively small amounts of P, but may still be important regionally. Political incentives are thus needed in current regulations to efficiently close P cycles. To achieve P recycling in practice, it is essential to know the relative agronomic efficiency (RAE) of secondary P products compared with mineral fertiliser. Nine secondary P products were analysed here: Two biomass ashes, meat bone meal, fish sludge, catering waste, two food waste-based digestate products, dairy manure and chicken manure. The RAE of these secondary products studied in a bioassay with ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) varied widely, partly depending on soil pH. Fertilisation effects were mainly attributable to the solubility of the inorganic P species contained in the secondary products. Combining sequential chemical fractionation and non-destructive speciation methods revealed that P was mainly present as calcium phosphates of differing solubility. Further analysis showed that microbial and physicochemical soil processes induced by the secondary P products studied were of little overall importance for total P uptake in barley (Hordeum vulgare). Based on the results obtained, two chemical extraction methods for predicting the RAE of secondary products with unknown fertilisation effects are suggested: At soil pH <6.5, RAE should be predicted by the fraction of inorganic P in the secondary product (% of total P) that is extractable in H2O. At soil pH >6.5, RAE should be predicted by the fraction of inorganic P (% of total P) that is extractable in 0.5 M NaHCO3 (Olsen P).

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Abstract

N-rich waste resources have potentially good effects if applied as fertiliser to spring cereals. P fertilisation effects of meat and bone meal are strongly determined by soil pH, whereas P in bottom wood ash seems to have almost the same availability as easily soluble P in mineral fertilisers. K fertilisation effects were hidden by the soils ability to provide plants with plant available K.

Abstract

The three organic cropping systems Landvik (in Grimstad), Voll (at Ås) and Kvithamar (in Stjørdal) were established in 1993 on previously conventionally farmed soils of marine origin. The six-year crop rotation at Landvik was designed for an organic stockless farm producing cash crops. These crops were fertilized with composted organic household waste from the nearby community (maximum 100 kg N ha-1) and composted waste from the system itself. The rotation at Voll was designed for an arable farm withbeef production from suckling cows (0.9 animal units ha-1), and the rotation at Kvithamar was designed for a dairy cattle farm (1.0 animal unit ha-1). During the first six years of organic farming, the soil reserves of K were slightly depleted. The nutrient balance was –250 kg K ha-1 at Voll and –420 kg K ha-1 at Landvik, and the content of easily soluble K in the plough layer decreased at these sites. At Kvithamar, however, where the K balance for six years was –380 kg ha-1, no changes in soil content of K were recorded. For P, the six-year balance was positive at Landvik, where altogether 120 kg P ha-1 was supplied from composted household waste. The P balance was negative (-40 kg ha-1) at Voll and Kvithamar, and at Voll the content of easily soluble P in the plough layer was lower in 1999 than in 1993. In the study period, the yields were variable both within and between the systems. We have not identified any trends or variations in yields that might have been directly caused by changesin soil nutrient status or other soil quality components. At Voll and Kvithamar, however, the number of earthworm and the soil macroporosity increased from 1993 to 1999, with a concurrent slight increase in the yields of leys (Voll) and grain crops and swedes (Kvithamar). In the system at Landvik the yields of potatos and carrots were higher the first two than the last four years. At this site the soil structure was good, and the porosity and earthworm activity high, during the whole study period.

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Abstract

Farmers in northern Norway have experienced frequent winter damages of grassland, especially on flat areas and peat soils. The use of open ditches and surface grading has become the common method to drain such fields and for reclaiming new land with such characteristics. We designate this as surface grading in this paper. An investment analysis is carried out to explore the profitability of this method. This analysis indicates that the method is profitable from the farmers’ point of view. However, the conclusions are sensitive to changes in crop yields and the value of the yields. The cost of a winter damage and thus an unplanned reseeding is high for young leys, but is small for leys approaching the optimal replacement age.