Impact of digestate application as a fertilizer on the yield and quality of winter rape seed

Abstract

The operation of an agricultural biogas plant is associated with the formation of a large amount of digestate. The basic trend in digestate management, after taking into account its physicochemical properties, should be its use as a fertilizer. The possibility of the agricultural use of digestate as a fertilizer was determined. Digestate obtained from the agricultural biogas plant was tested for the content of macronutrients and heavy metals. The content of macronutrients was also determined in soil for winter rape cultivation. The analysis showed an increase in the yield depending on the digestate dose applied. In addition, an increase in the fat and protein content was found in winter rape seeds. The best results of mean values were obtained during the application of the 50,000 L ha−1 dose. The average diameter of the stem base was 1.48 cm. The average height was 36.20 cm. The seed yield was 3.44 t ha−1. The thousand seed weight was ‐ 5.34 g. The fat and protein contents were 43.62% and 22.95%, respectively. By applying a digestate dose of 50,000 l ha−1, the highest content of macronutrients, as well as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) (31.17%), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) (61.89%) and saturated fatty acids (SFA) (6.87%), was recorded.