QuWiN-Projekt - Development of quality standards for the shipment of farm fertilizers in Lower Saxony, Germany: Antibiotics as problematic substances
Livestock husbandry farms in the north-west of Lower Saxony, Germany, with conventional manure management and biogas plants produce more farm fertilizers as these can be applied on-site in com-pliance with soil and groundwater protection goals. At the same time, arable farming areas revealed nutrient deficiencies which can be compensated by the shipment of farm fertilizers from excess are-as. Advantages may be additional humus supply, enhanced phosphorous balances and efficient sub-stitution of mineral nitrogen fertilizers. From the viewpoint of plant nutrition, the supra-regional ship-ment of farm fertilizers may thus close nutrient cycles. This problem has been already investigated since 2016 in the frame of the joint research project "Farm Fertilizer Management Lower Saxony"
As a consequence of the treatment of production animal diseases, antibiotic residues may occur in farm fertilizers. The QuWiN-Projekt, therefore, should contribute to the objectification of the problems currently discussed: In which extent antibiotic residues are supra-regionally shipped together with farm fertilizers from centers of animal husbandry to centers of arable farming? Does the application of farm fertilizers contaminate those soils with antibiotic residues? For this purpose, 15 farms from farm fertilizer donating areas are to be selected to monitor the antibiotic application patterns and to analyze pig, bovine and poultry manure as well as digestates of farm-own and corporate biogas plants for an-tibiotic residues. In the farm fertilizer receiving areas, additional 15 farms are to be selected to charac-terize the antibiotic input into soils in comparison with long-term manure and digestate amended soils of the donating areas to finally deviate quality standards for the shipment of farm fertilizers.