Effectiveness of Manure Incorporation in Reducing Gas Emissions

Abstract

Gas emissions from animal feeding operations (AFOs) create detrimental impacts on air quality ranging from short-term local effects, particularly odor, to long-term regional and global effects as greenhouse gas emissions. Best management practices (BMPs) have been designed and implemented to mitigate gas emissions to assist animal producers in addressing air quality impacts from farm operations. We examined an emission control strategy widely practiced in AFOs, incorporating manure immediately after surface application. The primary objectives were to evaluate the efficiency and identify improvement of the current BMPs for sustainable manure management. We simulated manure application and incorporation in a greenhouse to maintain moderate summertime temperatures (20 - 40 C) while monitoring gaseous emissions through the course of investigation. The dairy farmyard manure was collected from Caine Dairy Teaching and Research Center (Wellsville, UT). Closed dynamic chambers (CDC) coupled with a multiplexed Fourier Transformed Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy gas analyzer (Gasmet DX-4030, Gasmet Technology Oy, Helsinki, Finland) provided gas emission estimates. The gas analyzer was capable of monitoring 15 pre-programmed gases simultaneously including typical gaseous compounds and greenhouse gases emitted from manure sources; namely, ammonia, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, oxides of nitrogen, and volatile organic compounds. In this presentation, we will discuss the experimental design and setup, as well as the efficiency of the current available BMPs implemented to reduce air emissions on dairy operations, based on the gaseous emission monitoring during the course of our experiment. Results from our study should enhance development and implementation of more flexible and more efficient air quality management approaches for AFOs