Abstract
The intensification of livestock production, to accommodate rising human population, has led to a higher emission of ammonia into the environment. For the reduction of ammonia emissions, different management steps have been reported in most EU countries. Some authors, however, have criticized such individual measures, because attempts to abate the emission of ammonia may lead to significant increases in either methane, nitrous oxide, or carbon dioxide. In this study, we carried out a meta-analysis of experimental European data published in peer-reviewed journals to evaluate the impact of major agricultural management practices on ammonia emissions, including the pollution swapping effect. The result of our meta-analysis showed that for the treatment, storage, and application stages, only slurry acidification was effective for the reduction of ammonia emissions (−69%), and had no pollution swapping effect with other greenhouse gases, like nitrous oxide (−21%), methane (−86%), and carbon dioxide (−15%). All other management strategies, like biological treatment, separation strategies, different storage types, the concealing of the liquid slurry with different materials, and variable field applications were effective to varying degrees for the abatement of ammonia emission, but also resulted in the increased emission of at least one other greenhouse gas. The strategies focusing on the decrease of ammonia emissions neglected the consequences of the emissions of other greenhouse gases. We recommend a combination of treatment technologies, like acidification and soil incorporation, and/or embracing emerging technologies, such as microbial inhibitors and slow release fertilizers.
Highlights
One-third of the earth’s arable land resources have already been severely degraded due to pollution through eutrophication, carbon and nutrient losses through soil management, and contamination with agrochemicals [1]
A study by Ma et al [22] on N use efficiency in China, reported that only 12% the of applied N was utilized by plants; 47% was lost to atmospheric emissions, and 41% to ground water, through leaching [23]
Research efforts are in place for the abatement of NH3 emissions at the various stages of the manure management chain, namely; the feeding, housing, treatment, storage, and application stages to ensure a whole-farm management model [2,7]
Summary
One-third of the earth’s arable land resources have already been severely degraded due to pollution through eutrophication, carbon and nutrient losses through soil management, and contamination with agrochemicals [1]. Ammonia (NH3 ) and its salts are major contributors to eutrophication, and corresponding abatement strategies might lead to increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [2]. Agriculture, mainly livestock production, is the greatest contributor to the emission of ammonia (NH3 ) [2,3,4]. The GHGs from animal husbandry are nitrous oxide and methane. The latter is mainly produced by enteric fermentation and manure storage, and has an effect on global warming 28 times higher than carbon dioxide [5]. The general demand for measures to abate emissions of NH3 due to the Agronomy 2020, 10, 1633; doi:10.3390/agronomy10111633 www.mdpi.com/journal/agronomy
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