Agrochemical and Chemical Assessment of Waste from Livestock Farms

Abstract

With the development of industrial farming a number of problems occur. One of these is pollution of soil, water and environment by improper storage and usage of manure. The great difficulties create liquid manure generated during water cleaning of the premises. In our country, many livestock farms are left without technology solutions for storage and use of manure, this may lead to environment pollution. Increase of the concentrations of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide—CO2, methane—CH4 and nitrous oxides—N2O) has been observed since the end of the nineteenth century. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the global average temperature of the land surface has risen by 0.4–0.8 °C for the last 100 years due to the increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (CO2 emissions by 29 %, CH4 emissions by 150 % and N2O emissions by 15 %) (Mitova and Petrova, International symposium INMATEH agricultural engineering, 2013; Thorne, Environ Health Perspect 115:296–297, 2007; Topping, http://www.climate.org/2002/programs/washington_summit_temperature_rise.shtml, 2007) [15, 31, 32]. The FAO found that the animal agriculture sector emits 18 %, or nearly one-fifth, of human-induced GHG emissions, more than the transportation sector (Proorocu et al., Bull USAMV Agric 67(2), 2010; Silverstein, Energy Biz Insider, 2007; Steinfeld et al., Livestock’s long shadow: environmental issues and options. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United 314 Nations, Rome, 2006; Storck, More farms find unlikely power source: manure. http://www.meatingplace.com/MembersOnly/webNews/details.aspx?item=18539, 2007) [25, 26, 27, 29]. In order to reduce the pollutant effect of livestock and reduction of greenhouse gases is necessary to carry out properly storage and recovery of waste from animal farming. Waste management from livestock is related to their location, the cleaning of the premises, characteristics, availability of enough space in the area, periods of storage, utilization of manure, etc. The aim of this study is to analyze and evaluate the manure from livestock farms in the region of Veliko Tarnovo and recommend technology solutions for proper utilization, to reduce pollution and gas emissions into the atmosphere. Fourteen farms in Veliko Tarnovo region were surveyed. The comparative agrochemical, chemical and environmental assessment of stayed and fresh manure, found that the greatest nutritional value has poultry manure, followed by pig and cattle manure. Poultry manure is highly concentrated and fast-acting. Depending on the way of cleaning, we recommended technology solutions for proper storage and use of manure for each farm.