Abstract
Water used for irrigation is a leading source of induced salinity in semiarid areas. Within the Irrigation District 005 in northern Mexico, there are more than 100 dairy farms housing over 72,000 dairy cows, 74% of which are concentrated in approximately 30 intensive-operation farms. Dairy farm effluents (DFE) and manure are collected and stored temporarily until they are applied to the land to fertilize pasture and other crops. DFE vary in salt content, depending on specific farm operations. The risk of soil salinization by DFE was estimated by measuring electrical conductivity (EC) of both well water and DFE, and comparing these values with 2.0 mS cm−1, a Mexican guideline for wastewater used in agriculture. Half of the effluents exceeded the EC limit, with values as high as 12.4 mS cm−1, whereas a few exceeded the EC limit in both well and effluent water. The generation of salt and its passing into soils expose a potential for soil salinization, if preventive measures are not taken. A salt load map was created that depicted the areas at higher risk of salinization. The simple technique utilized here can be applied in estimating salinization potential in areas where monitoring of soils, irrigation drains, and shallow groundwater is infrequent.
Highlights
Dairy farms produce large quantities of wastewater as a result of the thorough washing of milking and feeding parlors to ensure sanitary conditions
Information about type chemicals used in washing the facilities, feed given to cows, number of hectares irrigated with dairy farm effluents (DFE), and type of crops grown in those fields was gathered whenever possible
With a reported 80,000 dairy washing the facilities, feed given to cows, number of hectares irrigated with DFE, and type of crops grown in those fields was gathered whenever possible
Summary
Dairy farms produce large quantities of wastewater as a result of the thorough washing of milking and feeding parlors to ensure sanitary conditions Application of these dairy farm effluents (DFE) to agricultural soils is a widely utilized disposal method due to the benefits that these wastewaters bring to the soil and the accompanying increase in the sustainability of the operations [1,2,3]. The most common type of biodigestors are anaerobic, which consist of tightly closed containers where the organic waste ferments in absence of oxygen, generating a fuel gas composed of about 66% methane and 33% CO2 Solid products of these treatments are either spread over the land as a source of organic fertilizer, or used as a soil conditioner [16,19].
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