Abstract
This paper describes ammonium sulfate (ReAS) that was recovered from livestock manure compost using ammonia-collecting equipment, and was subsequently used as fertilizer for forage and edible rice. We produced ReAS paste fertilizer (RePa) from ReAS. The cultivation trial involved the rice varieties Fukuhibiki, Bekoaoba and Tsuyahime, which received a basal dressing (5 kg N/10a) and topdressings (3 kg N/10a, 2 times). We compared four types of basal dressing, each containing one of the following: conventional chemical fertilizer (CoF), conventional paste fertilizer (CoPa), ReAS, or RePa. Paste fertilizers were applied to the side row soil, whereas the others were applied on the soil surface. The topdressing was composed of either ReAS or conventional ammonium sulfate. The inclusion of CoPa or RePa fertilizer in the basal dressing resulted in an increase in leaf color and in the number of stems compared with the other two treatments, and improved the early-stage growth of rice. The weight of the whole tops at harvest and the crude protein (CP) content of the brown rice grown using ReAS basal dressing were similar to those obtained using the CoF basal dressing. These results indicate that the basal dressing containing RePa improved the early-stage growth of rice when using side row application. Investigations of the time and rate of topdressing application combined with ReAS basal dressing may enable ReAS to contribute to the improvement of rice yield and CP content.
