Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T08:35:33.420Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Administration of dicyandiamide to dairy cows via drinking water reduces nitrogen losses from grazed pastures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2013

B. G. WELTEN ,
S. F. LEDGARD  and
J. LUO
B. G. WELTEN*
Affiliation:
AgResearch Limited, Ruakura Research Centre, Private Bag 3123, Hamilton, New Zealand
S. F. LEDGARD
Affiliation:
AgResearch Limited, Ruakura Research Centre, Private Bag 3123, Hamilton, New Zealand
J. LUO
Affiliation:
AgResearch Limited, Ruakura Research Centre, Private Bag 3123, Hamilton, New Zealand
*
*To whom all correspondence should be addressed. Email: brendon.welten@agresearch.co.nz
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Oral administration of the nitrification inhibitor dicyandiamide (DCD) to ruminants for excretion in urine represents a targeted mitigation strategy to reduce nitrogen (N) losses from grazed pasture. A farmlet grazing study was undertaken to examine the environmental benefits of administering DCD in trough water to non-lactating Friesian dairy cows that consecutively grazed 12 replicated plots (each 627 m2 with a grazing intensity of up to 319 cows/ha/day) during two grazing rotations in the winter of 2007 in the Waikato region, New Zealand. Nitrate-N (NO3−-N) leaching losses were measured using ceramic cup samplers (600 mm soil depth) and gaseous emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) were quantified using a static chamber technique in the DCD and control treatments. Administration of DCD in trough water had no effect on daily water intake by dairy cows, which averaged 15 and 18 l/cow/day for the June and August grazing rotations, respectively. This resulted in a mean daily DCD intake of 46 and 110 g/cow/day, respectively. The DCD farmlet had significantly lower NO3−-N concentrations in leachate at the last three samplings, which reduced total NO3−-N leaching losses by 40% (from 32·0 to 19·2 kg N/ha). The DCD treatment reduced N2O emission rates compared to the control treatment following the August grazing, resulting in a 45% reduction in total N2O emissions relative to the control treatment (from 0·49 to 0·27 kg N2O-N/ha). This preliminary study highlights the potential for administering ruminants with DCD as an effective mitigation option for reducing N losses from agricultural systems.

Type
Nitrogen Workshop Special Issue Papers
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 152 , Supplement S1: Special Issue from the 17th International Nitrogen Workshop , December 2014 , pp. 150 - 158
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Amberger, A. (1989). Research on dicyandiamide as a nitrification inhibitor and future outlook. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis 20, 1933–1955.Google Scholar
Blakemore, L. C., Searle, P. L. & Daley, B. K. (1987). Methods for Chemical Analysis of Soils. New Zealand Soil Bureau Scientific Report No 80. Lower Hutt, New Zealand: New Zealand Soil Bureau.Google Scholar
Clough, T. J., Di, H. J., Cameron, K. C., Sherlock, R. R., Metherell, A. K., Clark, H. & Rys, G. (2007). Accounting for the utilization of a N2O mitigation tool in the IPCC inventory methodology for agricultural soils. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems 78, 1–14.Google Scholar
Corré, W. J. & Zwart, K. B. (1995). Effects of DCD addition to slurry on nitrate leaching in sandy soils. Netherlands Journal of Agricultural Science 43, 195–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Di, H. J. & Cameron, K. C. (2005). Reducing environmental impacts of agriculture by using a fine particle suspension nitrification inhibitor to decrease nitrate leaching from grazed pastures. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 109, 202–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haynes, R. J. & Williams, P. H. (1993). Nutrient cycling and soil fertility in the grazed pasture ecosystem. Advances in Agronomy 49, 119–199.Google Scholar
Kroeze, C., Mosier, A. & Bouwman, L. (1999). Closing the global N2O budget: a retrospective analysis 1500–1994. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 13, 1–8.Google Scholar
Ledgard, S. F. (2001). Nitrogen cycling in low input legume-based agriculture, with emphasis on legume/grass pastures. Plant and Soil 228, 43–59.Google Scholar
Ledgard, S. F., Menneer, J. C., Dexter, M. M., Kear, M. J., Lindsey, S., Peters, J. S. & Pacheco, D. (2008 a). A novel concept to reduce nitrogen losses from grazed pastures by administering soil nitrogen process inhibitors to ruminant animals: a study with sheep. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 125, 148–158.Google Scholar
Ledgard, S. F., Ghani, A., Redding, M., Sprosen, M., Balvert, S. & Smeaton, D. (2008 b). Farmers taking control of their future: research into minimising nitrogen and phosphorus from pasture land into Rotorua lakes. In Carbon and Nutrient Management in Agriculture (Eds Currie, L. D. & Yates, L. J.), pp. 500–510. Occasional Report No. 21. Palmerston North, New Zealand: Fertilizer and Lime Research Centre, Massey University.Google Scholar
Lukas, J. M., Reneau, J. K. & Linn, J. G. (2008). Water intake and dry matter intake changes as a feeding management tool and indicator of health and estrus status in dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 91, 3385–3394.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luo, J., Ledgard, S. F. & Lindsey, S. B. (2007). Nitrous oxide emissions from application of urea on New Zealand pasture. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 50, 1–11.Google Scholar
Luo, J., Ledgard, S. F. & Lindsey, S. B. (2013). Nitrous oxide and greenhouse gas emissions from grazed pastures as affected by use of nitrification inhibitor and restricted grazing regime. Science of the Total Environment. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.12.075.Google ScholarPubMed
Menneer, J. C., Ledgard, S. F. & Sprosen, M. S. (2008 a). Soil N process inhibitors alter nitrogen leaching dynamics in a pumice soil. Australian Journal of Soil Research 46, 323–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menneer, J. C., Sprosen, M. S. & Ledgard, S. F. (2008 b). Effect of timing and formulation of dicyandiamide (DCD) application on nitrate leaching and pasture production in a Bay of Plenty pastoral soil. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 51, 377–385.Google Scholar
Moir, J. L., Cameron, K. C., Di, H. J. & Fertsak, U. (2011). The spatial coverage of dairy cattle urine patches in an intensively grazed pasture system. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 149, 473–485.Google Scholar
Monaghan, R. M., Smith, L. C. & Ledgard, S. F. (2009). The effectiveness of a granular formulation of dicyandiamide (DCD) in limiting nitrate leaching from a grazed dairy pasture. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 52, 145–159.Google Scholar
Mosier, A. R. & Mack, L. (1980). Gas chromatographic system for precise, rapid analysis of nitrous oxide. Soil Science Society of America Journal 44, 1121–1123.Google Scholar
Murphy, M. R. (1992). Water metabolism of dairy cattle. Journal of Dairy Science 75, 326–333.Google Scholar
O'connor, P. J., Hennessy, D., Lynch, M. B., Slattery, H. & Lewis, E. (2013). The effect of dicyandiamide on rumen and blood metabolites, diet digestibility and urinary excretion. Livestock Science 155, 30–37.Google Scholar
Schwarzer, C. & Haselwandter, K. (1996). Rapid quantification of the nitrification inhibitor dicyandiamide in soil samples, nutrient media and bacterial cell-free extracts. Journal of Chromatography A 732, 390–393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shepherd, M. A., Wyatt, J. & Welten, B. G. (2012). Effect of soil type and rainfall on dicyandiamide concentrations in drainage from lysimeters. Soil Research 50, 67–75.Google Scholar
Thomson, N. A., Upsdell, M. P., Hooper, R., Henderson, H. V., Blackwell, M. B., McCallum, D. A., Hainsworth, R. J., Macdonald, K. A., Wildermoth, D. D., Bishop-Hurley, G. J. & Penno, J. W. (2001). Development and evaluation of a standardised means for estimating herbage mass of dairy pastures using the rising plate meter. Proceedings of the New Zealand Grassland Association 63, 149–157.Google Scholar
Weihermüller, L., Siemens, J., Deurer, M., Knoblauch, S., Rupp, H., Göttlein, A. & Pütz, T. (2007). In situ soil water extraction: a review. Journal of Environmental Quality 36, 1735–1748.Google Scholar
Welten, B. G., Ledgard, S. F., Schipper, L. A. & Judge, A. A. (2013 a). Effect of amending cattle urine with dicyandiamide on soil nitrogen dynamics and leaching of urinary-nitrogen. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 167, 12–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welten, B. G., Ledgard, S. F., Schipper, L. A., Waller, J. E., Kear, M. J. & Dexter, M. M. (2013 b). Effects of prolonged oral administration of dicyandiamide to dairy heifers on excretion in urine and efficacy in soil. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 173, 28–36.Google Scholar
Woodward, S. J. R., Barker, D. J. & Zyskowski, R. F. (2001). A practical model for predicting soil water deficit in New Zealand pastures. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 44, 91–109.Google Scholar