Application technique and slurry co-fermentation effects on ammonia, nitrous oxide, and methane emissions after spreading: II. Greenhouse gas emissions

A review of mitigation technologies and management strategies for greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions in livestock production

One of the key issues in manure management of livestock production is to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) and air pollutant emissions, which lead to significant environmental footprint and human/animal health threats. This study provides a review of potentially efficacious technologies and management strategies that reduce GHG and air pollutant emissions during the three key stages of manure management in livestock production, i.e., animal housing, manure storage and treatment, and manure application. Several effective mitigation technologies and practices for each manure management stage are identified and analyzed in detail, including feeding formulation adjustment, frequent manure removal and air scrubber during animal housing stage; solid-liquid separation, manure covers for storage, acidification, anaerobic digestion and composting during manure storage and treatment stage; land application techniques at appropriate timing during manure application stage. The results indicated several promising approaches to reduce multiple gas emissions from the entire manure management. Removing manure 2-3 times per week or every day during animal housing stage is an effective and simple way to reduce GHG and air pollutant emissions. Acidification during manure storage and treatment stage can reduce ammonia and methane emissions by 33%-93% and 67%-87%, respectively and proper acid, such as lactic acid can also reduce nitrous oxide emission by about 90%. Shallow injection of manure for field application has the best performance in reducing ammonia emission by 62%-70% but increase nitrous oxide emission. The possible trade-off brings insight to the prioritization of targeted gas emissions for the researchers, stakeholders and policymakers, and also highlights the importance of assessing the mitigation technologies across the entire manure management chain. Implementing a combination of the management strategies needs comprehensive considerations about mitigation efficiency, technical feasibility, local regulations, climate condition, scalability and cost-effectiveness.

A systematic review of life-cycle GHG emissions from intensive pig farming: Accounting and mitigation

Pork accounts for approximately 35 % of the global meat supply, with approximately 747 million tons of CO2e greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions annually. To meet the increasing demand for pork, intensive farming is becoming the priority rearing system owing to its higher productivity. Given the climate transformation ambitions of the pig industry but the lack of knowledge and data, we conducted a systematic review of studies published in the period of 2010-2022 from a life-cycle perspective, with a focus on greenhouse gas emissions accounting and mitigation. The significant variations in systematic harmonized global warming intensities (GWIs) can be primarily attributed to differences in accounting approaches, activity data, technologies and geographical conditions. To understand more, we broke down the entire life cycle and revealed the underlying reasons for modelling mechanisms and data from the main emitters (e.g., feeding, pig rearing, and manure management). These findings are expected to support and improve the transparency, consistency, and comprehensiveness of life-cycle GHG emissions accounting in pig farming. Potential mitigation measures were also reviewed and discussed to provide insights to support the sustainable development of the pig industry.

Calcium cyanamide reduces methane and other trace gases during long-term storage of dairy cattle and fattening pig slurry

Calcium cyanamide (CaCN₂) has been used in agriculture for more than a century as a nitrogen fertilizer with nitrification inhibiting and pest-controlling characteristics. However, in this study, a completely new application area was investigated, as CaCN₂ was used as a slurry additive to evaluate its effect on the emission of ammonia and greenhouse gases (GHG) consisting of methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide. Efficiently reducing these emissions is a key challenge facing the agriculture sector, as stored slurry is a major contributor to global GHG and ammonia emissions. Therefore, dairy cattle and fattening pig slurry was treated with either 300 mg kg^-1 or 500 mg kg^-1 cyanamide formulated in a low-nitrate CaCN₂ product (Eminex®). The slurry was stripped with nitrogen gas to remove dissolved gases and then stored for 26 weeks, during which gas volume and concentration were measured. Suppression of methane production by CaCN₂ began within 45 min after application and persisted until the storage end in all variants, except in the fattening pig slurry treated with 300 mg kg^-1, in which the effect faded after 12 weeks, indicating that the effect is reversible. Furthermore, total GHG emissions decreased by 99% for dairy cattle treated with 300 and 500 mg kg^-1 and by 81% and 99% for fattening pig, respectively. The underlying mechanism is related to CaCN₂-induced inhibition of microbial degradation of volatile fatty acids (VFA) and its conversion to methane during methanogenesis. This increases the VFA concentration in the slurry, lowering its pH and thereby reducing ammonia emissions.

The addition of magnesium sulfate and borax to urea reduced soil NH3 emissions but increased N2O emissions from soil with grass

Nitrogen (N) use efficiency can be increased by the addition of substances to urea. Magnesium sulfate (MgSO₄) and boron were considered as plant nutrients, while zeolite was used as soil conditioner. The addition of these substances may affect soil NH₃ and N₂O emissions, by increasing N use efficiency. We conducted an 30 days incubation experiment with ryegrass using fertilizer treatments (12 g N m^-2) as follows: urea (U); urea + MgSO₄ (UM); urea + MgSO₄ + borax (UMB); zeolite + urea + MgSO₄ (Z-UM); and zeolite + urea + MgSO₄ + borax (Z-UMB). We measured NH₃ and N₂O emissions and the aboveground N uptake of ryegrass. Cumulative NH₃ emissions of UM, UMB, Z-UM and Z-UMB were 10%, 53%, 21% and 58% lower than U, respectively, while their N₂O emissions were 32%, 133%, 43% and 72% higher than U, respectively. Aboveground N uptake of UM, UMB, Z-UM and Z-UMB were 9%, 6%, 12% and 13% higher than U, respectively. Overall, we suggest that the addition of MgSO₄ and borax were effective in reducing NH₃ emissions and potentially increase plant N uptake. However, the risk of higher denitrification and N₂O emissions also needs to be considered. This study reveals the considerable effect of MgSO₄ and borax in soil N cycles. Future research should evaluate how the application of urea + MgSO₄ + borax effects gaseous emissions and crop yield of dicotyledons and in drier soil conditions.

How could simulated dewatering of slurry mitigate nitrous oxide emissions from fall and spring injections? - A modelling study in a Chernozem soil in Western Canada

Process-based ecosystem models, such as ecosys, can be useful tools to gain insights and accurately project nitrous oxide (N₂O) inventories in national, regional and global scales, and to explore potential emission reduction strategies. Our objectives are to investigate how the ecosys model simulate the effects of fall and spring slurry injections on N₂O production and if de-watering slurry could become a potential N₂O mitigation strategy for both fall and spring injections. The ecosys model was used to simulate hourly N₂O fluxes from 2014 to 2017 in a cropping system with and without slurry (fall and spring additions) in comparison with field measurements in Alberta, Canada. Furthermore, we performed simulations of de-watered fall and spring slurry applications in the same scenarios. Our results showed ecosys adequately simulated soil temperatures and moisture contents at 10 and 20 cm depths [correlation coefficients (r) ≥ 0.929 for temperatures; r ≥ 0.529 for moistures]. The divergences of modelled and measured soil water contents during spring thaws could be attributed to uncertainties in model inputs for soil hydrological parameters as well as uncertainties in field measurements. The model captured reasonably well the dynamics of N₂O fluxes from soils receiving fall and spring slurry (r = 0.356). However, the concurrent discrepancies of N₂O fluxes between modelled and measured values during the wetter spring thaw of 2017 might be a result of an unsatisfactory simulation of snowmelt infiltration and runoff. Compared to whole slurry, simulated de-watered slurry resulted in considerable reductions in cumulative N₂O emissions by 16-36 and 23-29% for fall and spring slurry injections, respectively. The model results indicate that de-watering slurry would potentially be an efficient emission mitigation strategy; however, there is still a paucity of studies addressing the feasibility of dewatering as a practice and further research can focus on this knowledge gap.

Risk assessment of Escherichia coli in bioaerosols generated following land application of farmyard slurry

Transfer of Escherichia coli in bioaerosols to humans during and shortly after the land application of farmyard slurry may pose human health hazards, but it has not been extensively explored to date. The present study developed a quantitative risk assessment model for E. coli through the air exposure route. The probabilistic model assessed the predicted number of microorganisms in the air (PN_air) to which humans may be exposed. A Gaussian air dispersion model was used to calculate the concentration of E. coli transmitted through aerosols. Human exposure (HE) to E. coli was estimated using a Monte Carlo simulation approach. This research predicted the mean HE as 26 CFU day^-1 (95th percentile 263 CFU day^-1) and suggests the importance of keeping a distance of at least 100 m for the residential population from land spreading activities. However, the simulated mean daily or annual (once a year application) risk of 2.65 × 10^-7 person^-1 year^-1 due to land application of slurry indicates very low occupational risk for farmworkers not equipped with the personal protective equipment (PPE), who are potentially exposed to E. coli indirectly. The model found that the decay constant of E. coli in air, duration of decay, and bio-aerosolisation efficiency factor (top three) could influence HE to airborne E. coli. Furthermore, this research recommends an average time lag of at least 2.5 h following the application of farmyard slurry to the field before humans access the field again without PPE, allowing the airborne pathogen to decay, thereby ensuring occupational safety. The model suggested that the bio-aerosolisation efficiency factor (E) for other pathogens requires further investigation. The information generated from this model can help to assess likely exposure from bioaerosols triggered by land application of farmyard slurry.

Impacts of low-disturbance dairy manure incorporation on ammonia and greenhouse gas fluxes in a corn silage-winter rye cover crop system

Manure and fertilizer applications contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) and ammonia (NH₃ ) emissions. Losses of NH₃ and nitrous oxide (N₂ O) are an economic loss of nitrogen (N) to farms, and methane (CH₄ ), N₂ O, and carbon dioxide (CO₂ ) are important GHGs. Few studies have examined the effects of low-disturbance manure incorporation (LDMI) on both NH₃ and GHG fluxes. Here, NH₃ , N₂ O, CH₄ , and CO₂ fluxes in corn (Zea mays L.)-winter rye (Secale cereale L.) field plots were measured under fall LDMI (aerator/band, coulter injection, strip-till, sweep inject, surface/broadcast application, broadcast-disk) and spring-applied urea (134 kg N ha^-1 ) treatments from 2013 to 2015 in central Wisconsin. Whereas broadcast lost 35.5% of applied ammonium-N (NH₄ -N) as NH₃ -N, strip-till inject and coulter inject lost 0.11 and 4.5% of applied NH₄ -N as NH₃ , respectively. Mean N₂ O loss ranged from 2.7 to 3.6% of applied total N for LDMI, compared with 4.2% for urea and 2.6% for broadcast. Overall, greater CO₂ fluxes for manure treatments contributed to larger cumulative GHG fluxes compared with fertilizer N. There were few significant treatment effects for CH₄ (P > .10); however, fluxes were significantly correlated with changes in soil moisture and temperature. Results indicate that LDMI treatments significantly decreased NH₃ loss but led to modest increases in N₂ O and CO₂ fluxes compared with broadcast and broadcast-disk manure incorporation. Tradeoffs between N conservation versus increased GHG fluxes for LDMI and other methods should be incorporated into nutrient management tools as part of assessing agri-environmental farm impacts.

Field Application of Organic Fertilizers Triggers N2O Emissions From the Soil N Pool as Indicated by 15N-Labeled Digestates

Anaerobic digestion (AD) can generate biogas while simultaneously producing digestate which can be used as fertilizer. Feedstocks used for AD influence digestate composition, which in turn may affect carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) turn-over in soils and subsequently influence nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions after soil application. Assessment of greenhouse gas emissions from digestates can help to evaluate the overall sustainability of an agricultural production system. The objective of this study was therefore to evaluate and understand the effect of differences in digestate composition on in situ N2O emissions within the 1st weeks after application of seven digestates. The digestates were derived from different feedstocks and 15N-labeled, either in total N or only in ammonium-N. Therefore, the experimental design enabled us to differentiate between potential N2O-N sources (i.e., digestate N or soil N). Furthermore, it allowed to distinguish to some extent between organic-N and ammonium-N as potential N sources for denitrification. Digestates were homogeneously incorporated into the upper 5 cm of microplots in an arable Haplic Luvisol in South Germany at a rate of 170 kg N ha−1. After application, N2O fluxes were measured for ~60 days (May-July) using the closed chamber method in 2 experimental years. Mainly due to higher precipitations in the 1st year, cumulative N2O emissions were higher (312–1,580 g N2O-N ha−1) compared to the emissions (133–690 g N2O-N ha−1) in the 2nd year. Between 16–33% (1st year) and 17–38% (2nd year) of N2O emissions originated from digestate N, indicating that digestate application triggered N2O production and release mainly from soil N. This effect was strongest immediately after digestate application. It was concluded that the first (short term) peak in N2O emissions after digestate application is largely related to denitrification of soil-N. However, the experimental setup does not allow to differentiate between the different denitrification pathways. Weather conditions showed a substantial effect on N2O emissions, where the correlation between N2O and CO2 flux rates hinted on denitrification as main N2O source. The effect of digestate composition, particularly organic N from the digestate, on soil N2O emissions seems to be of minor relevance.

Greenhouse gas emissions from inorganic and organic fertilizer production and use: A review of emission factors and their variability

Fertilizers have become an essential part of our global food supply chain and are necessary to sustain our growing population. However, fertilizers can also contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, along with other potential nutrient losses in the environment, e.g. through leaching. To reduce this environmental impact, tools such as life cycle assessments and decision support systems are being used to aid in selecting sustainable fertilization scenarios. These scenarios often include organic waste-derived amendments, such as manures, composts and digestates. To produce an accurate assessment and comparison of potential fertilization scenarios, these tools require emission factors (EFs) that are used to estimate GHG emissions and that are an integral part of these analyses. However, such EFs seem to be very variable in nature, thereby often resulting in high uncertainty on the outcomes of the analyses. This review aims to identify ranges and sources of variability in EFs to provide a better understanding of the potential uncertainty on the outcomes, as well as to provide recommendations for selecting EFs for future studies. As such, an extensive review of the literature on GHG emissions from production, storage, transportation and application of synthetic fertilizers (N, P, K), composts, digestates and manures was performed. This paper highlights the high variability that is present in emissions data and confirms the great impact of this uncertainty on the quality and validity of GHG predictions related to fertilizers. Variability in EFs stem from the energy source used for production, operating conditions, storage systems, crop and soil type, soil nutrient content, amount and method of fertilizer application, soil bacterial community, irrigation method, among others. Furthermore, a knowledge gap exists related to EFs for potassium fertilizers and waste valorization (anaerobic digestion/composting) processes. Overall, based on this review, it is recommended to determine EFs on a case by case basis when possible and to use uncertainty analyses as a tool to better understand the impact of EF variability.

Life Cycle Assessment of Biogas Production from Unused Grassland Biomass Pretreated by Steam Explosion Using a System Expansion Method

Reforestation is a threat to permanent grasslands in many alpine regions. Using these areas to produce biogas energy may help to preserve these important landscapes and save fossil fuels by adding a renewable local heat and electricity source. This case study compares (a) a status quo (SQ) reference scenario with heating oil, wood-chips, and grid electricity as municipal energy sources, and (b) a hypothetical local biogas (LB) scenario (to also be used as a municipal energy source) based on a 500-kWel biogas plant with steam explosion pretreatment. Here, hay from previously unused grassland is the main biogas substrate, whereas, in the reference SQ scenario, these grasslands remain unused. Life cycle assessment (LCA) results for LB and SQ scenarios are significantly different at p < 0.05 in all six impact categories. In three categories, the LB scenario has lower impacts than the SQ scenario, including climate change (0.367 CO2-eq kWhel-1 versus 0.501 CO2-eq kWhel-1). Dominant contributions to climate change in the SQ scenario are from the extant municipal energy sources that the LB biogas plant would replace; in the LB scenario, important contributions include unburned methane from the biogas plant, as well as CO2 emissions from hay production machines. In summary, important environmental impacts can be reduced and alpine grasslands can be preserved by biogas production from that grass. The advantages of integrating a local biogas plant in municipal energy and waste systems depend strongly on the extant municipal energy system characteristics.

Influence of low-disturbance fall liquid dairy manure application on corn silage yield, soil nitrate, and rye cover crop growth

Tillage incorporation of manure can mitigate nutrient loss but increases erosion potential and damages cover crops. More information on the effects of low-disturbance manure application (LDMA) on corn yield, cover crop establishment, and soil properties is needed to better predict manure management practice trade-offs. Here, corn silage (Zea mays L.) yield, winter rye (Secale cereale L.) establishment, and soil nitrate concentrations were compared for a range of manure application methods, including broadcast incorporation, broadcast/disk, fertilizer N (spring applied at 67, 134, and 202 kg N ha^-1 ), and a no-manure control, at the University of Wisconsin's Marshfield Agricultural Research Station from 2012 to 2015. Compared with the control, manure and fertilizer N treatments increased corn yield by an average of 1.1- to 1.6-fold and 1.4- to 1.6-fold, respectively. Of the LDMA treatments (sweep-, strip till-, and coulter-injection; aerator/band; broadcast), corn yield was greatest for sweep injection, which did not differ from the high N fertilizer rate (P < .0001). Corn yield averaged across LDMA treatments did not differ from the 134 or 202 kg N ha^-1 yields. Compared with disking, LDMA maintained more crop residue (P < .0001), with levels comparable to the control. Soil nitrate-N at depths of 0-30 and 30-60 cm was influenced by LDMA and fertilizer N; however, leaching to 60-90 cm was comparable among treatments. Results indicate that LDMA with injection conserved more N, caused less damage to winter rye, and had similar yields to fertilizer N treatments with improved soil aggregate stability and higher total carbon content.

An increase of ammonia emissions from terrestrial ecosystems on the Tibetan Plateau since 1980 deduced from ice core record

Ammonia (NH₃) emissions could have significant impacts on both ecosystems and human health. Ice cores from the Tibetan Plateau contain information about past ammonium (NH₄⁺) deposition, which could yield important insights into historical NH₃ emissions in the surrounding source regions as well as long-distance NH₄⁺ aerosol transport via atmospheric circulation. In this paper, we present a high-resolution atmospheric NH₄⁺ deposition record for the period, 1951-2008, reconstructed from the Zangser Kangri (ZK) ice core in the northern Tibetan Plateau. An empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis of major soluble ions (NH₄⁺, NO₃^-, SO₄^2-, Cl^-, Na⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺) reveals that EOF 1 has significant loadings of all ions, therefore representing common transport pathways, while EOF 2 is only significantly loaded by NH₄⁺ (0.86) and NO₃^- (0.35), suggesting a unique signal possibly representing emissions from the surrounding terrestrial ecosystems on the Tibetan Plateau. Backward trajectory analysis indicates that the air masses over the ZK ice core drilling site primarily come from the northwestern Indian Peninsula. NH₃ emissions from agricultural activities in this area likely contribute to the NH₄⁺ deposition of the ZK ice core via the Indian monsoon. Correlations between EOF 2 time series and temperature, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) suggest that increasing temperature and vegetation after 1980 likely promoted NH₃ emissions from terrestrial ecosystems. Our results provide a reliable and valuable assessment of NH₄⁺ deposition from human activities and terrestrial ecosystems in the ZK ice core, and help in understanding air pollution over the past few decades in the northern Tibetan Plateau.

Full-scale of composting process of biogas residues from corn stover anaerobic digestion: Physical-chemical, biology parameters and maturity indexes during whole process

Recycling of biogas residues from corn stover anaerobic digestion is crucial for the development of biogas industry. Full-scale composting process is the feasible way to convert biogas residues to fertilizer. The aim of the study was to explore the feasibility of full-scale composting process to dispose biogas residue to fertilizer, and to evaluate the quality of the compost. The results showed the biogas residues could rapidly reach the thermophilic stage and last at least 20 days, NH₄⁺-N, TOC and C/N decreased along with the composting process, while TP, TK and NO₃^--N showed an opposite trend. Germination index(GI) and seedling growth index showed that raw biogas residues was toxic for plant, but the GI and seedling growth index were increased during the composting process, except for the cooling stage sample. Anaerolineaceae and Limnochordaceae were the main bacteria involved in the composting process, and Chaetomium was the most important fungus.

Anaerobic Digestate Treatment Selection Model for Biogas Plant Costs and Emissions Reduction

Agriculture is one of the leading sectors on the global level contributing to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions increase. With the utilization of biogas production technology within the agriculture sector, ecological benefits could be achieved, with immediate economic profit. Therefore, to retain economic profit and environmental sustainability, implementation of bioeconomy principles is of key importance. This paper examines four options of digestate treatment, which is identified as one of the highest operational cost for the biogas plant. A simple and robust model in Excel Solver was developed to determine the best solution for minimising GHG emissions and maximise profit for the biogas plant operator, through an upgrade of the plant with digestate treatment technologies. The model was implemented on a case of a Croatian biogas plant and the best solution in terms of GHG reduction and profit increase proved to be fertilizer production (Option 1), through a crystallization process of struvite within the digestate. This option obtains a significant reduction in GHG emissions compared to standard biogas production without additional upgrades (Option 4), by over 90%, and increase of profit for the biogas plant operator, which diversifies the income source and creates multiple positive impacts on the environment.

Trade-offs of gaseous emissions from soils under vegetable, wheat-maize and apple orchard cropping systems applied with digestate: An incubation study

Land application of digestate from anaerobic digestion causes various gaseous emissions. A soil core incubation experiment was carried out in the laboratory to investigate the trade-offs of NH₃, N₂O and CH₄ emissions from soils collected from vegetable, arable and orchard cropping systems. Digestate derived from liquid cattle manure was applied to the soil cores through the surface (SA) and incorporation application (IA) methods under three soil moisture conditions (40%, 60%, and 80% water-filled pore space, WFPS). Gaseous emissions from vegetable soil were significantly greater (P< .05) than those from soils under the other two cropping systems under similar conditions, particularly under a high moisture condition. The greenhouse gas emissions (GHG, in term of CO₂-equivalents) of all soils increased with the increasing soil moisture contents, mainly due to rapidly increasing N₂O emissions. Trade-offs in the emissions of these three gases were observed between SA and IA. As expected, SA was characterized by greater NH₃ and CH₄ but lower N₂O emissions compared to IA. The increase in GHG under IA could be offset only somewhat by the reduced NH₃ (and this reduced indirect N₂O) and CH₄ emissions under lower moisture conditions (<60% WFPS), which indicates a requirement for other strategies to control gaseous emissions from wet soils applied with digestate. In conclusion, an environmentally friendly strategy for digestate application should consider the soil moisture, types of soils and application methods, and all the presented suggestions need to be verified in the field in the future.Implications: This study shows that digestate incorporation can decrease NH3 but increase GHG emissions verse the surface application method, where the increased GHG could only be offset by the NH3 reductions at relatively dry soil condition, indicating an urgent requirement to mitigating GHG emissions under moist soil condition.

Winter-Season Gaseous Nitrogen Emissions in Subtropical Climate: Impacts of Pig Slurry Injection and Nitrification Inhibitor

Controlling nitrogen (N) losses from pig slurry (PS) is a challenge under no-till because amendments are left on the soil surface. We investigated the potential of shallow injection of PS, with and without addition of the nitrification inhibitor dicyandiamide (DCD), to abate gaseous ammonia (NH) and nitrous oxide (NO) emissions in winter crops in subtropical soils. Injection was compared with surface broadcasting of PS, with and without DCD. The significance of winter season on annual NO emissions was assessed. Injecting PS reduced NH volatilization compared with surface application. However, this reduction was partly offset because NO emissions increased by 77% (+1.53 kg NO-N ha) when PS was injected. Adding DCD to injected PS reduced NO emission below levels of surface-broadcast PS without the inhibitor, indicating that DCD may be a management option when injecting PS. Compared with a reference urea treatment, PS without DCD increased cumulative NO emissions 5.7-fold (from 613 to 3515 g NO-N ha) when injected, and 3.2-fold (from 613 to 1980 g NO-N ha) when surface applied. Adding DCD significantly reduced emissions with injected PS, whereas reduction was not always significant with surface-applied PS. Nitrous oxide emissions during the winter cropping season contributed 30 to 44% of annual emissions, indicating that controlling gaseous N losses in that season is required to reduce the environmental footprint of the whole cropping system. Overall, combining PS injection with DCD was an efficient practice for reducing winter-season gaseous N losses from no-till soils under subtropical climate.

Environmental impact and economic sustainability analysis of a novel anaerobic digestion waste-to-energy pilot plant in Pakistan

A novel medium-large industrial-scale, anaerobic digestion (AD) waste-to-energy pilot plant has been investigated in terms of cost-benefit, environmental impact, and economic sustainability. This pilot plant exclusively features a multi-digester AD system induced by motorized stirring, methane purification, compression, storage and digestate-fertilizer processing systems, and subsequent electricity generation. The operational productivity and success of the pilot plant has been proven on a variety of waste feedstock substrates in the form of cow-buffalo manure and potato waste. The plant has an average energy productivity of 384 kWh/day and an annual rate of return was estimated to be 15.4%. The life cycle environmental impact analysis deliberated the significant impact potentials in terms of climate change (kg CO₂ equivalent), and fossil depletion (kg of oil equivalent) for three selected substrates: 100% cow-buffalo manure (CBM), 100% potato waste (PW), and a mixture of 75% CBM and 25% PW. The results show the climate change potential of 70 kg, 71 kg, and 149 kg and fossil depletion potential of - 2.43 kg, - 16.45 kg, and 18 kg per 2000 kg of substrate slurry, respectively. As such, the substrate of 100% CBM posed the least climate change impacts whereas 100% PW has been established most effective under the fossil depletion category.

LiDAR-Based 3D Scans of Soil Surfaces and Furrows in Two Soil Types

Soil surface measurements play an important role in the performance assessment of tillage operations and are relevant in both academic and industrial settings. Manual soil surface measurements are time-consuming and laborious, which often limits the amount of data collected. An experiment was conducted to compare two approaches for measuring and analysing the cross-sectional area and geometry of a furrow after a trailing shoe sweep. The compared approaches in this study were a manual pinboard and a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensor. The experiments were conducted in coarse sand and loamy sand soil bins exposed to three levels of irrigation. Using the LiDAR, a system for generating 3D scans of the soil surface was obtained and a mean furrow geometry was introduced to study the geometrical variations along the furrows. A comparison of the cross-sectional area measurements by the pinboard and the LiDAR showed up to 41% difference between the two methods. The relation between irrigation and the resulting furrow area of a trailing shoe sweep was investigated using the LiDAR measurements. The furrow cross-sectional area increased by 11% and 34% under 20 mm and 40 mm irrigation compared to non-irrigated in the coarse sand experiment. In the loamy sand, the cross-sectional area increased by 17% and 15% by irrigation of 20 mm and 40 mm compared to non-irrigated measured using the LiDAR.

Cattle Diets Strongly Affect Nitrous Oxide in the Rumen

This study aimed at assigning climate-relevant gaseous emissions from ruminants to animal- or feed-related origin. Three adult rumen-cannulated German Holstein steers and three forage types (corn silage (CS), alfalfa silage (AS) and grass hay (GH)) were used in a 3 × 3 Latin square design. Each period consisted of 12 days (d), during which animals received 10 kg dry matter/day of one forage as sole feed. Gaseous samples from forages and the steers´ rumen were taken and analyzed for CO2, CH4, and N2O using gas chromatography. There were large differences in the amounts of CO2 and N2O emitting from the forage types. Most N2O came from AS and only small amounts from GH and CS. Results indicate that fermented forages rich in nitrogen can release climate-relevant N2O. The highest CO2 amounts were measured in CS. Methane was not detected in any forage sample. Animals consuming CS showed slightly lower CH4 concentrations in the rumen gas sample than animals fed AS or GH. Big differences were found for ruminal N2O with the highest concentration after AS ingestion such that the N2O measured in the rumen seems to originate from the used feedstuff.

Stimulation of N2 O emission by manure application to agricultural soils may largely offset carbon benefits: a global meta-analysis

Animal manure application as organic fertilizer does not only sustain agricultural productivity and increase soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks, but also affects soil nitrogen cycling and nitrous oxide (N₂ O) emissions. However, given that the sign and magnitude of manure effects on soil N₂ O emissions is uncertain, the net climatic impact of manure application in arable land is unknown. Here, we performed a global meta-analysis using field experimental data published in peer-reviewed journals prior to December 2015. In this meta-analysis, we quantified the responses of N₂ O emissions to manure application relative to synthetic N fertilizer application from individual studies and analyzed manure characteristics, experimental duration, climate, and soil properties as explanatory factors. Manure application significantly increased N₂ O emissions by an average 32.7% (95% confidence interval: 5.1-58.2%) compared to application of synthetic N fertilizer alone. The significant stimulation of N₂ O emissions occurred following cattle and poultry manure applications, subsurface manure application, and raw manure application. Furthermore, the significant stimulatory effects on N₂ O emissions were also observed for warm temperate climate, acid soils (pH < 6.5), and soil texture classes of sandy loam and clay loam. Average direct N₂ O emission factors (EFs) of 1.87% and 0.24% were estimated for upland soils and rice paddy soils receiving manure application, respectively. Although manure application increased SOC stocks, our study suggested that the benefit of increasing SOC stocks as GHG sinks could be largely offset by stimulation of soil N₂ O emissions and aggravated by CH₄ emissions if, particularly for rice paddy soils, the stimulation of CH₄ emissions by manure application was taken into account.

Carbon footprint of grain production in China

Due to the increasing environmental impact of food production, carbon footprint as an indicator can guide farmland management. This study established a method and estimated the carbon footprint of grain production in China based on life cycle analysis (LCA). The results showed that grain production has a high carbon footprint in 2013, i.e., 4052 kg ce/ha or 0.48 kg ce/kg for maize, 5455 kg ce/ha or 0.75 kg ce/kg for wheat and 11881 kg ce/ha or 1.60 kg ce/kg for rice. These footprints are higher than that of other countries, such as the United States, Canada and India. The most important factors governing carbon emissions were the application of nitrogen fertiliser (8–49%), straw burning (0–70%), energy consumption by machinery (6–40%), energy consumption for irrigation (0–44%) and CH₄ emissions from rice paddies (15–73%). The most important carbon sequestration factors included returning of crop straw (41–90%), chemical nitrogen fertiliser application (10–59%) and no-till farming practices (0–10%). Different factors dominated in different crop systems in different regions. To identity site-specific key factors and take countermeasures could significantly lower carbon footprint, e.g., ban straw burning in northeast and south China, stopping continuous flooding irrigation in wheat and rice production system.

Greenhouse gas fluxes from a grazed grassland soil after slurry injections and mineral fertilizer applications under the Atlantic climatic conditions of NW Spain

The number of studies that investigate how agricultural practices on dairy farms in the North West (NW) of Spain affect greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes from soils is limited. Thus, the objective of this study was to quantify the effects of the application of mineral fertilizers and cattle slurry injections on GHG fluxes from a grassland soil with grazing dairy cattle, in Galicia (NW Spain). We also aimed to identify the type of fertilizer associated with high grass production and low GHG fluxes. To achieve this, fluxes of nitrous oxide (N₂O), methane (CH₄) and carbon dioxide (CO₂)_, grass yields and soil mineral nitrogen (N) contents were monitored after three applications (in spring, summer and autumn) of surface broadcasted mineral fertilizer (MN) and injected cattle slurry (CS) and compared with no fertilization (zero N). Dry soil conditions (<60% water-filled pore space (WFPS)) were observed during the spring and summer, contrasting with the higher soil WFPS (>60%) in autumn due to the more frequent rainfall. Overall, total cumulative N₂O fluxes from CS were similar than from MN (P>0.05), indicating that denitrification in this C-rich soil was not stimulated by slurry-carbon applications. Large losses of CH₄ and CO₂ were related to CS, but overall only total cumulative CH₄ fluxes were larger with respect to MN (P<0.05). Dry weather conditions would have stimulated organic matter mineralization in this soil, which resulted in the low efficiency of both fertilizers to increase yields. As we obtained similar total CO₂ equivalents to produce same yields with both types of fertilization (P>0.05), this study did not show a clear type of fertilization related to low GHG fluxes and high yields. We believe that longer-term studies are required to provide more robust estimations and conclusions about the effect of fertilizer applications on GHG fluxes from grassland soils in NW Spain.

Methodological Comparison between a Novel Automatic Sampling System for Gas Chromatography versus Photoacoustic Spectroscopy for Measuring Greenhouse Gas Emissions under Field Conditions

Trace gases such as nitrous oxide (N₂O), methane (CH₄), and carbon dioxide (CO₂) are climate-related gases, and their emissions from agricultural livestock barns are not negligible. Conventional measurement systems in the field (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR); photoacoustic system (PAS)) are not sufficiently sensitive to N₂O. Laser-based measurement systems are highly accurate, but they are very expensive to purchase and maintain. One cost-effective alternative is gas chromatography (GC) with electron capture detection (ECD), but this is not suitable for field applications due to radiation. Measuring samples collected automatically under field conditions in the laboratory at a subsequent time presents many challenges. This study presents a sampling designed to promote laboratory analysis of N₂O concentrations sampled under field conditions. Analyses were carried out using PAS in the field (online system) and GC in the laboratory (offline system). Both measurement systems showed a good correlation for CH₄ and CO₂ concentrations. Measured N₂O concentrations were near the detection limit for PAS. GC achieved more reliable results for N₂O in very low concentration ranges.

Increasing thermal drying temperature of biosolids reduced nitrogen mineralisation and soil N2O emissions

Previous studies found that thermally dried biosolids contained more mineralisable organic nitrogen (N) than the raw or anaerobically digested (AD) biosolids they were derived from. However, the effect of thermal drying temperature on biosolid N availability is not well understood. This will be of importance for the value of the biosolids when used to fertilise crops. We sourced AD biosolids from a Danish waste water treatment plant (WWTP) and dried it in the laboratory at 70, 130, 190 or 250 °C to >95 % dry matter content. Also, we sourced biosolids from the WWTP dried using its in-house thermal drying process (input temperature 95 °C, thermal fluid circuit temperature 200 °C, 95 % dry matter content). The drying process reduced the ammonium content of the biosolids and reduced it further at higher drying temperatures. These findings were attributed to ammonia volatilisation. The percentage of mineralisable organic N fraction (min-N) in the biosolids, and nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) production were analysed 120 days after addition to soil. When incubated at soil field capacity (pF 2), none of the dried biosolids had a greater min-N than the AD biosolids (46.4 %). Min-N was lowest in biosolids dried at higher temperatures (e.g. 19.3 % at 250 °C vs 35.4 % at 70 °C). Considering only the dried biosolids, min-N was greater in WWTP-dried biosolids (50.5 %) than all of the laboratory-dried biosolids with the exception of the 70 °C-dried biosolids. Biosolid carbon mineralisation (CO2 release) and N2O production was also the lowest in treatments of the highest drying temperature, suggesting that this material was more recalcitrant. Overall, thermal drying temperature had a significant influence on N availability from the AD biosolids, but drying did not improve the N availability of these biosolids in any case.

Spatiotemporal dynamics of phosphorus release, oxygen consumption and greenhouse gas emissions after localised soil amendment with organic fertilisers

Organic fertilisation inevitably leads to heterogeneous distribution of organic matter and nutrients in soil, i.e. due to uneven surface spreading or inhomogeneous incorporation. The resulting localised hotspots of nutrient application will induce various biotic and abiotic nutrient turnover processes and fixation in the residue sphere, giving rise to distinct differences in nutrient availability, soil oxygen content and greenhouse gas (GHG) production. In this study we investigated the spatiotemporal dynamics of the reaction of manure solids and manure solids char with soil, focusing on their phosphorus (P) availability, as current emphasis on improving societal P efficiency through recycling waste or bio-based fertilisers necessitates a sound understanding of their behaviour. Soil layers amended at a constant P application rate with either pig manure solids or char made from pig manure solids were incubated for three weeks between layers of non-amended, P-depleted soil. Spatial and temporal changes in and around the amendment layers were simultaneously investigated in this study using a sandwich sensor consisting of a planar oxygen optode and multi-element diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) gels, combined with GHG emission measurements. After three weeks of incubation, the soil containing a layer amended with manure solids had a lower overall O2 content and had emitted significantly more CO2 than the non-amended control or the char-amended soil. The P availability from manure solids was initially higher than that from the char, but decreased over time, whereas from the char-amended layer P availability increased in the same period. In both treatments, increases in P availability were confined to the amended soil layer and did not greatly affect P availability in the directly adjacent soil layers during the three-week incubation. These results highlight the importance of placing organic P fertilisers close to where the plant roots will grow in order to facilitate optimal fertiliser use efficiency.

Pig slurry acidification and separation techniques affect soil N and C turnover and N2O emissions from solid, liquid and biochar fractions

The combined effects of pig slurry acidification, subsequent separation techniques and biochar production from the solid fraction on N mineralisation and N2O and CO2 emissions in soil were investigated in an incubation experiment. Acidification of pig slurry increased N availability from the separated solid fractions in soil, but did not affect N2O and CO2 emissions. However acidification reduced soil N and C turnover from the liquid fraction. The use of more advanced separation techniques (flocculation and drainage > decanting centrifuge > screw press) increased N mineralisation from acidified solid fractions, but also increased N2O and CO2 emissions in soil amended with the liquid fraction. Finally, the biochar production from the solid fraction of pig slurry resulted in a very recalcitrant material, which reduced N and C mineralisation in soil compared to the raw solid fractions.

Impacts of Enhanced-Efficiency Nitrogen Fertilizers on Greenhouse Gas Emissions in a Coastal Plain Soil under Cotton

Enhanced-efficiency N fertilizers (EENFs) have the potential to increase crop yield while decreasing soil N loss. However, the effect of EENFs on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from different agricultural systems is not well understood. Thus, studies from a variety of locations and cropping systems are needed to evaluate their impact. An experiment was initiated on a Coastal Plain soil under cotton ( L.) production for comparing EENFs to traditional sources. Nitrogen sources included urea, ammonia sulfate (AS), urea-ammonia sulfate (UAS), controlled-release, polymer-coated urea (Environmental Smart Nitrogen [ESN]), stabilized granular urea (SuperU), poultry litter (PL), poultry litter plus AgrotainPlus (PLA), and an unfertilized control. Carbon dioxide (CO), nitrous oxide (NO), and methane (CH) fluxes were monitored regularly after fertilization through harvest from 2009 to 2011 using a closed-chamber method. Poultry litter and PLA had higher CO flux than other N treatments, while ESN and SU were generally lowest following fertilization. Nitrous oxide fluxes were highly variable and rarely affected by N treatments; PL and PLA were higher but only during the few samplings in 2010 and 2011. Methane fluxes were higher in 2009 (wet year) than 2010 or 2011, and N treatments had minimal impact. Global warming potential (GWP), calculated from cumulative GHG fluxes, was highest with PL and PLA and lowest for control, UAS, ESN, and SU. Results suggest that PL application to cotton increases GHG flux, but GHG flux reductions from EENFs were infrequently different from standard inorganic fertilizers, suggesting their higher cost may render them presently impractical.

Assessment and mitigation of the environmental burdens to air from land applied food-based digestate

Anaerobic digestion (AD) of putrescible urban waste for energy recovery has seen rapid growth over recent years. In order to ascertain its systems scale sustainability, however, determination of the environmental fate of the large volume of digestate generated during the process is indispensable. This paper evaluates the environmental burdens to air associated with land applied food-based digestate in terms of primary pollutants (ammonia, nitrogen dioxide) and greenhouse gases (methane and nitrous oxide). The assessments have been made in two stages - first, the emissions from surface application of food-based digestate are quantified for the business as usual (BAU). In the next step, environmental burden minimisation potentials for the following three mitigation measures are estimated - mixed waste digestate (MWD), soil-incorporated digestate (SID), and post-methanated digestate (PMD). Overall, the mitigation scenarios demonstrated considerable NH3, CH4 and N2O burden minimisation potentials, with positive implications for both climate change and urban pollution.

The Effect of Chemical Amendments Used for Phosphorus Abatement on Greenhouse Gas and Ammonia Emissions from Dairy Cattle Slurry: Synergies and Pollution Swapping

Land application of cattle slurry can result in incidental and chronic phosphorus (P) loss to waterbodies, leading to eutrophication. Chemical amendment of slurry has been proposed as a management practice, allowing slurry nutrients to remain available to plants whilst mitigating P losses in runoff. The effectiveness of amendments is well understood but their impacts on other loss pathways (so-called ‘pollution swapping’ potential) and therefore the feasibility of using such amendments has not been examined to date. The aim of this laboratory scale study was to determine how the chemical amendment of slurry affects losses of NH₃, CH₄, N₂O, and CO₂. Alum, FeCl₂, Polyaluminium chloride (PAC)- and biochar reduced NH₃ emissions by 92, 54, 65 and 77% compared to the slurry control, while lime increased emissions by 114%. Cumulative N₂O emissions of cattle slurry increased when amended with alum and FeCl₂ by 202% and 154% compared to the slurry only treatment. Lime, PAC and biochar resulted in a reduction of 44, 29 and 63% in cumulative N₂O loss compared to the slurry only treatment. Addition of amendments to slurry did not significantly affect soil CO₂ release during the study while CH₄ emissions followed a similar trend for all of the amended slurries applied, with an initial increase in losses followed by a rapid decrease for the duration of the study. All of the amendments examined reduced the initial peak in CH₄ emissions compared to the slurry only treatment. There was no significant effect of slurry amendments on global warming potential (GWP) caused by slurry land application, with the exception of biochar. After considering pollution swapping in conjunction with amendment effectiveness, the amendments recommended for further field study are PAC, alum and lime. This study has also shown that biochar has potential to reduce GHG losses arising from slurry application.

Mitigation of ammonia, nitrous oxide and methane emissions from manure management chains: a meta-analysis and integrated assessment

Livestock manure contributes considerably to global emissions of ammonia (NH3 ) and greenhouse gases (GHG), especially methane (CH4 ) and nitrous oxide (N2 O). Various measures have been developed to mitigate these emissions, but most of these focus on one specific gas and/or emission source. Here, we present a meta-analysis and integrated assessment of the effects of mitigation measures on NH3 , CH4 and (direct and indirect) N2 O emissions from the whole manure management chain. We analysed the effects of mitigation technologies on NH3 , CH4 and N2 O emissions from individual sources statistically using results of 126 published studies. Whole-chain effects on NH3 and GHG emissions were assessed through scenario analysis. Significant NH3 reduction efficiencies were observed for (i) housing via lowering the dietary crude protein (CP) content (24-65%, compared to the reference situation), for (ii) external slurry storages via acidification (83%) and covers of straw (78%) or artificial films (98%), for (iii) solid manure storages via compaction and covering (61%, compared to composting), and for (iv) manure application through band spreading (55%, compared to surface application), incorporation (70%) and injection (80%). Acidification decreased CH4 emissions from stored slurry by 87%. Significant increases in N2 O emissions were found for straw-covered slurry storages (by two orders of magnitude) and manure injection (by 26-199%). These side-effects of straw covers and slurry injection on N2 O emission were relatively small when considering the total GHG emissions from the manure chain. Lowering the CP content of feed and acidifying slurry are strategies that consistently reduce NH3 and GHG emissions in the whole chain. Other strategies may reduce emissions of a specific gas or emissions source, by which there is a risk of unwanted trade-offs in the manure management chain. Proper farm-scale combinations of mitigation measures are important to minimize impacts of livestock production on global emissions of NH3 and GHG.

Injection of Dicyandiamide-Treated Pig Slurry Reduced Ammonia Volatilization without Enhancing Soil Nitrous Oxide Emissions from No-Till Corn in Southern Brazil

There is a lack of information on how placement in soil and nitrification inhibitors affects nitrous oxide (NO) and ammonia (NH) emissions from pig slurry (PS) applied under no-till (NT) conditions. Our objective was to determine the impact of injecting PS and treating it with the nitrification inhibitor dicyandiamide (DCD) on NH and NO emissions from soils under NT in subtropical southern Brazil. The emissions of these gases were compared for shallow (∼ 10 cm) injection and surface broadcasting of PS with and without DCD (8.1-10.0 kg ha; 6.5-8.4% of applied NH-N). Measurements were made at two sites during two summer growing seasons under NT corn crops. Injection reduced NH volatilization by 70% but increased NO emissions 2.4-fold (from 2628 to 6198 g NO N ha) compared with surface broadcast application. Adding DCD to PS inhibited nitrification and reduced NO emissions by an average of 28% (730 g NO-N ha) for surface broadcast and 66% (4105 g NO-N ha) for injection but did not increase NH volatilization. Consequently, NO emission factors were much higher for injection (3.6%) than for surface broadcast (1.3%) application and were reduced (0.9%) when DCD was added to injected PS. In conclusion, the injection of DCD-treated slurry is a recommendable practice for reducing NH and NO emissions when applying PS on NT corn in southern Brazil.

Impact of chemically amended pig slurry on greenhouse gas emissions, soil properties and leachate

The effectiveness of chemical amendment of pig slurry to ameliorate phosphorus (P) losses in runoff is well studied, but research mainly has concentrated only on the runoff pathway. The aims of this study were to investigate changes to leachate nutrient losses, soil properties and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to the chemical amendment of pig slurry spread at 19 kg total phosphorus (TP), 90 kg total nitrogen (TN), and 180 kg total carbon (TC) ha(-1). The amendments examined were: (1) commercial grade liquid alum (8% Al2O3) applied at a rate of 0.88:1 [Al:TP], (2) commercial-grade liquid ferric chloride (38% FeCl3) applied at a rate of 0.89:1 [Fe:TP] and (3) commercial-grade liquid poly-aluminium chloride (PAC) (10% Al2O3) applied at a rate of 0.72:1 [Al:TP]. Columns filled with sieved soil were incubated for 8 mo at 10 °C and were leached with 160 mL (19 mm) distilled water wk(-1). All amendments reduced the Morgan's phosphorus and water extractable P content of the soil to that of the soil-only treatment, indicating that they have the ability to reduce P loss in leachate following slurry application. There were no significant differences between treatments for nitrogen (N) or carbon (C) in leachate or soil, indicating no deleterious impact on reactive N emissions or soil C cycling. Chemical amendment posed no significant change to GHG emissions from pig slurry, and in the cases of alum and PAC, reduced cumulative N2O and CO2 losses. Chemical amendment of land applied pig slurry can reduce P in runoff without any negative impact on nutrient leaching and GHG emissions. Future work must be conducted to ascertain if more significant reductions in GHG emissions are possible with chemical amendments.

Gaseous nitrogen and bacterial responses to raw and digested dairy manure applications in incubated soil

A study was conducted under laboratory conditions to compare rates of nitrous oxide (N(2)O) and ammonia (NH(3)) emissions when soil was amended with anaerobically digested dairy manure slurry containing <30% food byproducts, raw dairy manure slurry, or urea. Slurries were applied via surface and subsurface methods. A second objective was to correlate genes regulating nitrification and denitrification with rates of N(2)O production, slurry treatment, and application method. Ammonia volatilization from incubated soil ranged from 140 g kg(-1) of total N applied in digested slurry to 230 g kg(-1) in urea. Subsurface application of raw dairy manure slurry decreased ammonia volatilization compared with surface application. Anaerobic digestion increased N(2)O production. Cumulative N(2)O loss averaged 27 g kg(-1) of total N applied for digested slurry, compared with 5 g kg(-1) for raw dairy slurry. Genes of interest included a 16S rRNA gene selective for β-subgroup proteobacterial ammonia-oxidizers, amoA, narG, and nosZ quantified with quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Application of anaerobically digested slurry increased nitrifier and denitrifier gene copies that correlated with N(2)O production. Expression of all genes measured via mRNA levels was affected by N applications to soil. This study provides new information linking genetic markers in denitrifier and nitrifier populations to N(2)O production.

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from soils amended with digestate derived from anaerobic treatment of food waste

RATIONALE

The application of organic materials to agricultural lands is considered good practice to improve soil organic matter content and recycle nutrients for crop growth. The anaerobic treatment of food waste may have environmental benefits, particularly with regard to greenhouse gases (GHGs) mitigation and enhancement of carbon sequestration.

METHODS

This work presents the results from a field experiment to evaluate CO(2) , CH(4) and N(2) O emissions from grassland amended with digestate produced by anaerobic fermentation of food waste. Experimental plots, located close to Rothamsted Research-North Wyke, were established using a randomized block design with three replicates and two treatments, added digestate (DG) and the unamended control (CNT). The digestate was applied on three occasions at an equivalent rate of 80 kg N ha(-1) .

RESULTS

The application of digestate led to an increase in CO(2) emissions, especially after the 2(nd) application (74.1 kg CO(2) -C ha(-1)  day(-1) ) compared with the CNT soil (36.4 kg CO(2) -C ha(-1)  day(-1) ), whereas DG treatment did not affect the overall CH(4) and N(2) O emissions. The total grass yield harvested on a dry matter basis was greater in the DG treated plots (0.565 kg m(-2) ) than in the CNT plots (0.282 kg m(-2) ), as was the (15)  N content in the harvest collected from the DG plots.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that the digestate can be applied to agricultural land as a fertilizer to grow crops. Our study was conducted in an exceptionally dry growing season, so conclusions about the effect of digestate on GHG emissions should take this into account, and further field trials conducted under more typical growing seasons are needed.

Grassland systems of red meat production: integration between biodiversity, plant nutrient utilisation, greenhouse gas emissions and meat nutritional quality

Government policies relating to red meat production take account of the carbon footprint, environmental impact, and contributions to human health and nutrition, biodiversity and food security. This paper reviews the impact of grazing on these parameters and their interactions, identifying those practices that best meet governments' strategic goals. The recent focus of research on livestock grazing and biodiversity has been on reducing grazing intensity on hill and upland areas. Although this produces rapid increases in sward height and herbage mass, changes in structural diversity and plant species are slower, with no appreciable short-term increases in biodiversity so that environmental policies that simply involve reductions in numbers of livestock may not result in increased biodiversity. Furthermore, upland areas rely heavily on nutrient inputs to pastures so that withdrawal of these inputs can threaten food security. Differences in grazing patterns among breeds increase our ability to manage biodiversity if they are matched appropriately to different conservation grazing goals. Lowland grassland systems differ from upland pastures in that additional nutrients in the form of organic and inorganic fertilisers are more frequently applied to lowland pastures. Appropriate management of these nutrient applications is required, to reduce the associated environmental impact. New slurry-spreading techniques and technologies (e.g. the trailing shoe) help reduce nutrient losses but high nitrogen losses from urine deposition remain a key issue for lowland grassland systems. Nitrification inhibitors have the greatest potential to successfully tackle this problem. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are lower from indoor-based systems that use concentrates to shorten finishing periods. The challenge is to achieve the same level of performance from grass-based systems. Research has shown potential solutions through the use of forages containing condensed tannins or establishing swards with a high proportion of clover and high-sugar grasses. Relative to feeding conserved forage or concentrates, grazing fresh grass not only reduces GHG emissions but also enhances the fatty acid composition of meat in terms of consumer health. It is possible to influence biodiversity, nutrient utilisation, GHG emissions and the nutritional quality of meat in grass-based systems, but each of these parameters is intrinsically linked and should not be considered in isolation. Interactions between these parameters must be considered carefully when policies are being developed, in order to ensure that strategies designed to achieve positive gains in one category do not lead to a negative impact in another. Some win-win outcomes are identified.

Manure application technology in reduced tillage and forage systems: a review

Managing manure in reduced tillage and forage systems presents challenges, as incorporation by tillage is not compatible. Surface-applied manure that is not quickly incorporated into soil provides inefficient delivery of manure nutrients to crops due to environmental losses through ammonia (NH3) volatilization and nutrient losses in runoff, and serves as a major source of nuisance odors. An array of technologies now exist to facilitate the incorporation of liquid manures into soil with restricted or minor soil disturbance, some of which are new: shallow disk injection; chisel injection; aeration infiltration; pressure injection. Surface banding of manure inforages decreases NH3 emissions relative to surface broadcasting, as the canopy can decrease wind speed over the manure, but greater reductions can be achieved with manure injection. Soilaeration is intended to hasten manure infiltration, but its benefits are not consistent and may be related to factors such as soildrainage characteristics. Work remains to be done on refining its method of use and timing relative to manure application, which may improve its effectiveness. Placing manure under the soil surface efficiency by injection offers much promise to improve N use efficiency through less NH3 volatilization, reduced odors and decreased nutrient losses in runoff, relative to surface application. We identified significant gaps in our knowledge as manyof these technologies are relatively new, and this should help target future research efforts including environmental, agronomic, and economic assessments.

Dairy slurry application method impacts ammonia emission and nitrate in no-till corn silage

Reducing ammonia (NH3) emissions through slurry incorporation or other soil management techniques may increase nitrate (NO3) leaching, so quantifying potential losses from these alternative pathways is essential to improving slurry N management. Slurry N losses, as NH3 or NO3 were evaluated over 4 yr in south-central Wisconsin. Slurry (i.e., dairy cow [Bos taurus] manure from a storage pit) was applied each spring at a single rate (-75 m3 ha(-1)) in one of three ways: surface broadcast (SURF), surface broadcast followed by partial incorporation using an aerator implement (AER-INC), and injection (INJ). Ammonia emissions were measured during the 120 h following slurry application using chambers, and NO3 leaching was monitored in drainage lysimeters. Yield and N3 uptake of oat (Avena sativa L.), corn (Zea mays L.), and winter rye (Secale cereale L.) were measured each year, and at trial's end soils were sampled in 15- to 30-cm increments to 90-cm depth. There were significant tradeoffs in slurry N loss among pathways: annual mean NH3-N emission across all treatments was 5.3, 38.3, 12.4, and 21.8 kg ha(-1) and annual mean NO3-N leaching across all treatments was 24.1, 0.9, 16.9, and 7.3 kg ha' during Years 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. Slurry N loss amounted to 27.1% of applied N from the SURF treatment (20.5% as NH3-N and 6.6% as NO,-N), 23.3% from AER-INC (12.0% as NH3-N and 11.3% as NO3-N), and 9.19% from INJ (4.4% as NH3-N and 4.7% as NO3-N). Although slurry incorporation decreased slurry N loss, the conserved slurry N did not significantly impact crop yield, crop N uptake or soil properties at trial's end.

Subsurface application of manures slurries for conservation tillage and pasture soils and their impact on the nitrogen balance

Injection of cattle and swine slurries can provide soil incorporation in no-till and perennial forage production. Injection is expected to substantially reduce N loss due to ammonia (NH3) volatilization, but a portion of that N conservation may be offset by greater denitrification and leaching losses. This paper reviews our current knowledge of the impacts of subsurface application of cattle and swine slurries on the N balance and outlines areas where a greater understanding is needed. Several publications have shown that liquid manure injection using disk openers, chisels, or tines can be expected to Sreduce NH, emissions by at least 40%, and often by 90% or more, relative to broadcast application. However, the limited number of studies that have also measured denitrification losses have shown that increased denitrification with subsurface application can offset as much as half of the N conserved by reducing NH3 emissions. Because the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) is one product of denitrification, the possible increases in N2O emission with injection require further consideration. Subsurface manure application generally does not appear to increase leaching potential when manure is applied at recommended rates. Plant utilization of conserved N was shown in only a portion of the published studies, indicating that further work is needed to better synchronize manure N availability and crop uptake. At this time in the United States, the economic and environmental benefits from reducing losses of N as NH3 are expected to outweigh potential liability from increases in denitrification with subsurface manure application. To fully evaluate the trade-offs among manure application methods, a detailed environmental and agricultural economic assessment is needed to estimate the true costs of potential increases in NO2O emissions with manure injection.

Short term N2O, CH4 and CO2 production from soil sampled at different depths and amended with a fine sized slurry fraction

Little is known about the interaction of the soil's physicochemical environment and livestock slurry throughout the soil profile. In this study, five soil layers (2-6, 6-10, 10-14, 14-18, 18-22 cm) amended with a<45 microm slurry fraction (FS) or water (control) were incubated for 58 d at 20 degrees C to determine the effect of the slurry position in the soil profile on the production of CO(2), N(2)O, CH(4) and total greenhouse gas (GHG) expressed as CO(2) equivalent. FS application increased the CO(2) production in all soil layers by 3-8 times compared to the controls. The total CO(2) produced during the incubation in the 2-6 cm amended soil layer (>1,600 mg CO(2)-C kg(-1) dry soil) was significantly greater (P<0.05) than in other amended layers (<800 mg CO(2)-C kg(-1) dry soil). No detectable N(2)O production was observed from control treatments, and application of FS induced a slow increase in N(2)O production. N(2)O production occurred earlier and at a higher rate in deeper soil layers. Furthermore, a good correlation (r=0.899, P<0.05) was observed between N(2)O production and soil depth. The higher N(2)O production in the deeper soil layers could have been due to enhanced denitrification promoted by a lower aeration and low soil respiration in the deep soil. At the end of the incubation, >11% of the total applied N was lost as N(2)O from the two deeper soil layers against 2.5-5% in all other soil layers. Methane production was only observed from FS amended treatments within the first 7d (range 0.02-0.41 mg C kg(-1) soil d(-1)). The greatest net production of GHGs, expressed as CO(2) equivalents, was observed from the two deeper soil layers ( approximately 4.5 CO(2) eq kg(-1) soil). N(2)O and CO(2) contributed equally (50%) to the total GHG production in 2-14 cm soil layers, whereas N(2)O contributed reached 80% to the total GHG production in the deeper soil layers. The CH(4) contribution was not significant in any treatment.

Transport of pharmaceuticals in columns of a wastewater-irrigated Mexican clay soil

The irrigation or agricultural land with wastewater is increasingly practiced in many parts of the world as a consequence of growing populations and urbanization. The risks emerging from pharmaceuticals that are contained in wastewater for soils and groundwater have hardly been investigated. We studied leaching and effects of naproxen, ibuprofen, bezafibrate, diclofenac, gemfibrocil, clarithromycin, trimethoprim, clindamycin, erythromycin, and metoprolol in a soil column experiment simulating an irrigation event with 8.6 cm of wastewater containing 20 microg L(-1) or 2000 microg L(-1) of each compound or of erythromycin alone. The leached fraction of applied pharmaceuticals ranged from 0.1 +/- 0.1% (clarithromycin, 2000 microg L(-1)) to 130 +/- 41% (naproxen, 20 microg L(-1)) and tended to increase with decreasing K(d) or K(oc). Naproxen transport was similar to that of the tracer chloride. Ibuprofen was also hardly retarded (R = 1.20 +/- 0.18), but showed a higher degradation rate of 0.02 +/- 0.004 h(-1) (2000 microg L(-1)) than naproxen. The transport of a pulse of 2000 microg L(-1) of bezafibrate could be described with a retardation factor of 1.5 and a degradation rate of 0.033 h(-1). The application of erythromycin alone or of a cocktail of all pharmaceuticals significantly increased soil CO2 emissions by 50% 1 d after the application. There is a considerable risk that pharmaceuticals are leached to groundwater during wastewater irrigation.

Effect of cattle slurry pre-treatment by separation and addition of nitrification inhibitors on gaseous emissions and N dynamics: a laboratory study

The application of untreated or treated animal manure to soils can result in increased N and C gaseous emissions contributing to ecosystem change and global warming. In the present study, dairy cattle slurry (liquid manure) was subjected first to pre-treatment by separation using a screw press to obtain a liquid (LF) and a solid fraction (SF). Then, the different fractions and the whole slurry (WS) were combined with two nitrification inhibitors (NI), dicyandiamide (DCD) or 3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP), were applied to soil to assess the effect of slurry treatment by separation and NI addition on soil N dynamics and CH4, CO2, NH3, NO and N2O emissions. The WS and the two slurry fractions, combined or not with DCD or DMPP, were applied to soil at an equivalent field dosage of 120 kg total N ha(-1). Controls including a soil only, soil-DCD and soil-DMPP treatments were also included. The mixtures were incubated for 93-d at 20 degrees C. Results obtained show that NI inhibited nitrification between 16 and 30-d in WS and LF, with DMPP having a longer effect over time compared to DCD. There was no significant effect of NI on nitrification for the SF treatment. Nitrification inhibitors did not significantly affect (P>0.05) the CH4, CO2 and N2O emissions, but significantly decreased (P<0.05) NO emissions. Furthermore, the two NIs had a similar effect on gaseous emissions. Throughout the entire experiment, the greatest amount of NO was released from the LF treatment (without NI), while the greatest amount of N2O was released from the SF treatment. Slurry separation had no impact on N emissions, while the combination of this process with one of the two NI led to a small reduction in total N emissions.