The value of manure - Manure as co-product in life cycle assessment

Research ArticleLivestock production is important for food security, nutrition, and landscape maintenance, but it is associated with several environmental impacts. To assess the risk and benefits arising from livestock production, transparent and robust indicators are required, such as those offered by life cycle assessment. A central question in such approaches is how environmental burden is allocated to livestock products and to manure that is re-used for agricultural production. To incentivize sustainable use of manure, it should be considered as a co-product as long as it is not disposed of, or wasted, or applied in excess of crop nutrient needs, in which case it should be treated as a waste. This paper proposes a theoretical approach to define nutrient requirements based on nutrient response curves to economic and physical optima and a pragmatic approach based on crop nutrient yield adjusted for nutrient losses to atmosphere and water. Allocation of environmental burden to manure and other livestock products is then based on the nutrient value from manure for crop production using the price of fertilizer nutrients. We illustrate and discuss the proposed method with two case studiesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

4to. Congreso Internacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación para la Sociedad. Memoria académica

Este volumen acoge la memoria académica de la Cuarta edición del Congreso Internacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación para la Sociedad, CITIS 2017, desarrollado entre el 29 de noviembre y el 1 de diciembre de 2017 y organizado por la Universidad Politécnica Salesiana (UPS) en su sede de Guayaquil. El Congreso ofreció un espacio para la presentación, difusión e intercambio de importantes investigaciones nacionales e internacionales ante la comunidad universitaria que se dio cita en el encuentro. El uso de herramientas tecnológicas para la gestión de los trabajos de investigación como la plataforma Open Conference Systems y la web de presentación del Congreso http://citis.blog.ups.edu.ec/, hicieron de CITIS 2017 un verdadero referente entre los congresos que se desarrollaron en el país. La preocupación de nuestra Universidad, de presentar espacios que ayuden a generar nuevos y mejores cambios en la dimensión humana y social de nuestro entorno, hace que se persiga en cada edición del evento la presentación de trabajos con calidad creciente en cuanto a su producción científica. Quienes estuvimos al frente de la organización, dejamos plasmado en estas memorias académicas el intenso y prolífico trabajo de los días de realización del Congreso Internacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación para la Sociedad al alcance de todos y todas

Priorities for UK soils

The predominance of agriculture in the UK is a major factor determining the main soil threats and priorities. The main soil degradation processes are compaction, erosion and soil organic matter loss, while soil contamination and sealing is also a significant issue. Agricultural land take threatens soil ecosystem services but receives little attention. An urgent need to tackle climate change has resulted in a new direction for land use and soil policy

Emission factors for ammonia and nitrous oxide emissions following immediate manure incorporation on two contrasting soil types

We carried out four replicated field experiments to measure the impacts of immediate incorporation of solid manures on emissions of ammonia (NH3) and nitrous oxide (N2O). Four manures: cattle farmyard manure (FYM); pig FYM; layer manure and broiler manure were applied to the soil surface or immediately incorporated by mouldboard plough, disc or tine. Two of the experiments were carried out on a clay soil and two on a sandy soil to find out whether soil type interacted with incorporation technique to influence emissions of NH3 or N2O. Ammonia emissions were measured for 1 or 2 weeks while N2O emissions were measured for 60 days in one experiment and for a complete year in the other three experiments. Immediate incorporation by plough reduced NH3 emissions by c. 90% and by c. 60% by disc and tine (P < 0.001). There was no effect of soil type on NH3 abatement efficiency by plough or tine but the disc was less effective on the coarse sandy soil. Cross-site analysis indicated no effect of incorporation by disc or tine on emissions of N2OeN after 60 days but incorporation by plough increased direct emissions of N2OeN compared with surface application of manure (P < 0.001). Direct emissions of N2OeN, at c. 0.67% of total N applied, were substantially greater at the coarse-textured site than at the heavy clay site (0.04% of total N applied; P < 0.001). The impact of incorporation on total annual direct emissions of N2OeN differed in the three experiments where emissions were measured for a full year. There was no effect of incorporation on N2OeN emissions in the first experiment on the clay soil, and in the second experiment at this site incorporation by plough or disc, but not tine, reduced direct emissions of N2O (P ¼ 0.006). However on the sandy soil direct emissions of N2OeN were increased when manures were incorporated by plough (P ¼ 0.002) but not when incorporated by disc or tine. These results confirm that immediate incorporation of solid manures by plough is the most effective means of reducing NH3 emissions following the application of solid manures. The results also indicate that immediate incorporation of solid manures to reduce NH3 emissions does not necessarily increase emissions of N2O. However, the impacts of immediate incorporation on emissions of N2O may be related to soil type with a greater possibility of emission increases on coarse sandy soils

Threats to soil biodiversity - global and regional trends

Using the information provided on the main threats in the ten ecoregions present in the six world regions (Table of threats for Sub-Saharan Africa, South West Pacific, Latin America and Caribbean, North Africa and Near East, North America and Europe; FAOand ITPS, 2015), a summary table of the main threats common to these ecoregions was produced. This exercise showed that the most widespread threat to soil biodiversity in the world was the loss of SOM and SOC, and that this could be associated with other threats such as deforestation and agricultural intensification (both linked withland use change) and with climate change (particularly in tundra). This clearly shows the importance of sustainable management and conservation practices, to maintain this resource in soils, which represents one of the bases for the soils food webs. Deforestation and agricultural intensification were also major threats worldwide, being important intropical and temperate broad leaf and mixed forests and temperate and montane grassland sand boreal forests/taiga, although the level of available information on the topic was highly variable, depending on the particular world regions where these ecoregions occur. The ecoregions with the highest number of threats were the deserts and dry shrublands, the tropical and subtropical grasslands, and the temperate broad leaf and mixed forests. Invasive species also represented an important threat, particularly in Mediterranean and temperate forests and tundra.Fil: Brown, George. Ministerio da Agricultura Pecuaria e Abastecimento de Brasil; BrasilFil: Cooper, Miguel. Universidade do Sao Paulo. Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz; BrasilFil: Kobayashi, Mónica. Food And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations; ItaliaFil: Orgiazzi, Alberto. No especifíca;Fil: Domínguez, Anahí. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Biodiversidad y Ambiente - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Biodiversidad y Ambiente; ArgentinaFil: Dias Turetta, Ana Paula. No especifíca;Fil: Franco, André. No especifíca;Fil: Zaitsev, Andrey. No especifíca;Fil: Winding, Anne. No especifíca;Fil: Foereid, Bente. No especifíca;Fil: Singh, Brajesh. No especifíca;Fil: Guerra, Carlos. No especifíca;Fil: Rojas, Claudia. No especifíca;Fil: Spurgeon, David. No especifíca;Fil: Aksoy, Ece. No especifíca;Fil: Moreira, Fátima Maria. No especifíca;Fil: Bautista, Francisco. No especifíca;Fil: Xu, Jianming. No especifíca;Fil: Rousk, Johannes. No especifíca;Fil: Bedano, José Camilo. Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto. Facultad de Cs.exactas Fisicoquimicas y Naturales. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Biodiversidad y Ambiente. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - Cordoba. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Biodiversidad y Ambiente.; ArgentinaFil: Bagyaraj, Joseph D.. No especifíca;Fil: Saxena, Krishna. No especifíca;Fil: da Silva, Laura Fernanda Simões. No especifíca;Fil: Tedersoo, Leho. No especifíca;Fil: Byrne, Loren. No especifíca;Fil: Callaham, Mac A.. No especifíca;Fil: Choudhary, Madhu. No especifíca;Fil: Aller, M. Fernanda. No especifíca;Fil: Delgado Baquerizo, Manuel. No especifíca;Fil: García Orenes, Maria Fuensanta. No especifíca;Fil: Tsiafouli, Maria. No especifíca;Fil: de Graaf, Marie. No especifíca;Fil: Hart, Miranda. No especifíca;Fil: Thuita, Moses. No especifíca;Fil: Karanja, Nancy. No especifíca;Fil: Fromin, Nathalie. No especifíca;Fil: Eisenhauer, Nico. No especifíca;Fil: Kaneko, Nobuhiro. No especifíca;Fil: Mele, Pauline. No especifíca;Fil: Pastor, Pilar Andres. No especifíca;Fil: Ochoa-Hueso, Raul. No especifíca;Fil: Kuperman, Roman. No especifíca;Fil: Ichami, Stephen. No especifíca;Fil: Fonte, Steven J.. No especifíca;Fil: Santillan, Vinisa Saynes. No especifíca;Fil: Tapia Torres, Yunuen. No especifíca