Nitrous Oxide Emitted from Soil Receiving Anaerobically Digested Solid Cattle Manure

Abstract

Limited information is available about soil nitrous oxide (NO) fluxes, NO emission factors (EFs), and yield-scaled NO emissions for biogas residues used to fertilize crops in semiarid regions. To address this knowledge gap, a 4-yr field experiment was conducted in a semiarid climate to determine growing season NO fluxes from soil receiving (i) anaerobically digested solid beef cattle manure (digestate), (ii) separated solids from the digestate (separated solids), and (iii) undigested solid beef cattle manure (cattle manure) applied to target one and two times the recommended rates (200 and 400 kg total N ha) for barley ( L.) forage, assuming 50% of N was annually plant available. Nitrous oxide fluxes were determined using vented static chambers. Over the four growing seasons, 95, 80, and 81% of the NO flux occurred within 36 d of applying digestate, separated solids, and cattle manure, respectively. The cumulative NO emissions with digestate were 4.7 and 4.1 times the values of the separated solids and cattle manure, respectively. The digestate NO EF was 13.6 and 10.6 times the values of the separated solids and cattle manure, respectively, but the NO EF based on applied mineral N was similar for all amendments. The yield-scaled NO emissions with digestate were 4.3 and 3.6 times the values of the separated solids and cattle manure, respectively. In the semiarid region of southern Alberta, liquid biogas residues have a higher risk for NO emissions than both the separated solid fraction of the biogas residues and undigested cattle manure.