RATE AND FREQUENCY OF UREASE INHIBITOR APPLICATION FOR MINIMIZING AMMONIA EMISSIONS FROM BEEF CATTLE FEEDYARDS

Abstract

Reduction of ammonia emissions from animal feeding operations is important from the perspective of environmental policy and its impact on agriculture. A laboratory study was conducted to evaluate how rate and frequency of urease inhibitor application affect ammonia emissions from simulated beef cattle feedyard manure surfaces. The urease inhibitor N-(n-butyl)thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT) was applied at rates of 0, 1, and 2 kg ha-1, at 8, 16, and 32 day frequencies, and with or without simulated rainfall. Synthetic urine was added every two days to the manure surface. Gaseous ammonia was trapped by bubbling through a sulfuric acid solution using a vacuum system and analyzed for nitrogen using automated procedures. NBPT applied every 8 days was most effective, with the 1 and 2 kg NBPT ha-1 treatments resulting in 49% to 69% reduction in ammonia emission rates, respectively. The 8-day, 1 kg NBPT ha-1 treatments had the most promising benefit/cost ratios of 0.48 to 0.60. Simulated rainfall reduced the ammonia emission rates from 1% to 25% as compared to the non-rainfall treatments, although the differences were not statistically different. The use of NBPT for reducing ammonia emissions looks promising; however, possible buildup of urea in the pen surface may require a higher NBPT application rate with time.