Livestock Excreta Research Articles

Conversion of Inedible Biomass Wastes as Alternative Petroleum-Related Chemicals Using Iron Oxide Catalysts

We developed iron-oxide catalysts for producing petroleum-related chemicals from inedible biomass wastes containing water by oxidative cracking. These catalysts composed basically of iron-oxide and zirconia. The usefulness of the catalysts was examined by the reactions of several inedible biomass wastes, such as palm waste, livestock excreta, fermentation residue, raw glycerin, raw bioethanol and lignin. It was found that ketones, mainly acetone, were produced from palm waste, livestock excreta, fermentation residue and raw bioethanol at high yields. Phenol was obtained from palm waste. In the case of raw glycerin, even if high contents of alkali, allyl-alcohol, propene and acetone were successfully produced. Furthermore, phenols could be recovered from lignin.

진위천 수계의 수질오염총량제 시행에 따른 지역개발과 삭감계획 평가

The development and reduction scheme under implementation plan of TMDLs were performed in the Jinwi watershed including 8 cities (Gunpo, Yongin, Suwon, Anseong, Osan, Uiwang, Pyeongtaek and Hwaseong) since 2012. Progress of the annual development schemes was faster than the reduction schemes in most of the cities during the planning period. Main load reduction methods included establishment and enlargement of sewage treatment plants, resources of livestock excretions, and introduction of best management practices of non-point source pollution. Especially, reduction load using recycling and composting of livestock excretions comprised 34.1% of all reduction load. It is necessary to implement methodical development and reduction scheme for making of successful performance of TMDLs and water quality improvement in the Jinwi watershed.

Occurrence of free estrogens, conjugated estrogens, and bisphenol A in fresh livestock excreta and their removal by composting in North China.

An efficient pretreatment and analytical method was developed to investigate the occurrence and fate of four free estrogens (estrone (E1), 17β-estradiol (17β-E2), estriol (E3), and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2)), four conjugated estrogens (estrone-3-sulfate sodium salt (E1-3S), 17β-estradiol-3-sulfate sodium salt (E2-3S), estrone-3-glucuronide sodium salt (E1-3G), and 17β-estradiol-3-glucuronide sodium salt (E2-3G)), and bisphenol A (BPA) in three livestock farms raising beef cattle, cows, sheep, swine, and chickens in Qi County, which is located in North China. The results demonstrated that one cow and one beef cattle excreted 956.25-1,270.41 and 244.38-319.99 μg/day of total (free and conjugated) estrogen, respectively, primarily through feces (greater than 91%), while swine excreted 260.09-289.99 μg/day of estrogens, primarily through urine (98-99%). The total estrogen excreted in sheep and broiler chicken feces was calculated to be 21.64-28.67 and 4.62-5.40 μg/day, respectively. It was determined that conjugated estrogens contributed to 21.1-21.9% of the total estrogen excreted in cow feces and more than 98% of the total estrogen excreted in swine urine. After composting, the concentration of total estrogen decreased by 18.7-59.6%; however, increased levels of BPA were measured. In treated compost samples, estrogens were detected at concentrations up to 74.0 ng/g, which indicates a potential risk of estrogens entering the surrounding environment.

Effect of cattle urine addition on the surface emissions and subsurface concentrations of greenhouse gases in a UK peat grassland

Grazing systems represent a substantial percentage of the global anthropogenic flux of nitrous oxide (N2O) as a result of nitrogen addition to the soil. The pool of available carbon that is added to the soil from livestock excreta also provides substrate for the production of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) by soil microorganisms. A study into the production and emission of CO2, CH4 and N2O from cattle urine amended pasture was carried out on the Somerset Levels and Moors, UK over a three-month period. Urine-amended plots (50gNm−2) were compared to control plots to which only water (12mgNm−2) was applied. CO2 emission peaked at 5200mgCO2m−2d−1 directly after application. CH4 flux decreased to −2000μgCH4m−2d−1 two days after application; however, net CH4 flux was positive from urine treated plots and negative from control plots. N2O emission peaked at 88mgN2Om−2d−1 12 days after application. Subsurface CH4 and N2O concentrations were higher in the urine treated plots than the controls. There was no effect of treatment on subsurface CO2 concentrations. Subsurface N2O peaked at 500ppm 12 days after and 1200ppm 56 days after application. Subsurface NO3− concentration peaked at approximately 300mgNkg dry soil−1 12 days after application. Results indicate that denitrification is the key driver for N2O release in peatlands and that this production is strongly related to rainfall events and water-table movement. N2O production at depth continued long after emissions were detected at the surface. Further understanding of the interaction between subsurface gas concentrations, surface emissions and soil hydrological conditions is required to successfully predict greenhouse gas production and emission.

Application of geovisual analytics to modelling the movements of ruminants in the rural landscape using satellite tracking data

Geovisual analytics provides a framework for the development of decision support tools for landscape design, analysis and optimisation. An important application is modelling the spatial-temporal movements of ruminants and their grazing behaviour using global positioning system (GPS) collar units. This study describes the mapping and analysis of spatial distributions of animal waste products (which correlate with farm nitrogen [N] emissions) and also determination of animal feeding preferences (which correlate with animal welfare and production). Segmentation of local regions of animal N emissions provides support in meeting targets for local and international N leaching and greenhouse gas emissions. An agent-based model was used for pre-screening in order to gain insights into the clustering behaviour of sheep during feeding activities. Subsequent spatial analysis demonstrated that livestock excreta are not always randomly located, but concentrated around highly localised animal gathering points, separated by the nature of the excretion. In a separate study, the statistical significance of feeding choices was determined by testing a null hypothesis on animal boundary transitions between adjacent pastures using the binomial approximation. The analysis also included compensation for the precision of the GPS sensor, which produced a fuzzy decision boundary.

유비쿼터스 기술을 활용한 가축분뇨 통합관리 시스템 개발을 위한 사용자요구사항 분석

Although the livestock excretion is a significant resource in providing nutrients to the crops as it is recycled, it has been perceived as the cause of environmental pollutions for its inappropriate treatment and quality control issues. The study is aimed to develop an integrated management system for efficient management of livestock excretion using the Ubiquitous technology, and the user requirements are analyzed for development of such system. As the result of analysis on the requirements, it has been proved that such system is perceived to be necessary and the demand for several main functions can be seen as well.

Dynamic changes of CH4 and CO2 emission from grazing sheep urine and dung patches in typical steppe

The contribution of livestock excreta to greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions by sheep grazing in a typical steppe system in Guyuan county, Hebei province of the People's Republic of China was evaluated. Changes of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes from urine and dung patches excreted by sheep on grassland were measured for the first 144 h during July, August, September and October in 2011. CH4 fluxes from dung patches significantly increased (P < 0.05) within the first 4–8 h, and CO2 fluxes from urine patches significantly increased (P < 0.05) within the first 8 h. Urine patches cumulated the highest CO2 emission (188.89 g m−2) in the first 144 h in August. Cumulative CH4 emissions from urine patches and dung patches were −0.19 to 1.00 and −8.01 to 30.25 mg m−2 during the measurement period, and the control grassland was a net CH4 sink (−14.66 to −0.29 mg m−2). Dung induced the highest CH4 emission (23.46 μg g−2) in July. Significant positive correlations were found between soil temperature and GHGs fluxes (CH4 in grassland: R2 = 0.32, P < 0.01; CO2 in urine patches: R2 = 0.20, P < 0.05). Based on our measurement, the CH4 emission produced by the daily excreta per adult sheep grazing in summer was estimated at 15.07 ± 4.90 mg.

Spatial and temporal variations of river nitrogen exports from major basins in China

Provincial-level data for population, livestock, land use, economic growth, development of sewage systems, and wastewater treatment rates were used to construct a river nitrogen (N) export model in this paper. Despite uncertainties, our results indicated that river N export to coastal waters increased from 531 to 1,244kgN km(-2)year(-1) in the Changjiang River basin, 107 to 223kgN km(-2)year(-1) in the Huanghe River basin, and 412 to 1,219kgN km(-2)year(-1) in the Zhujiang River basin from 1980 to 2010 as a result of rapid population and economic growth. Significant temporal changes in water N sources showed that as the percentage of runoff from croplands increased, contributions of natural system runoff and rural human and livestock excreta decreased in the three basins from 1980 to 2010. Moreover, the nonpoint source N decreased from 72 to 58% in the Changjiang River basin, 80 to 67% in the Huanghe River basin, and 69 to 51% in the Zhujiang River basin, while the contributions of point sources increased greatly during the same period. Estimated results indicated that the N concentrations in the Changjiang, Huanghe, and Zhujiang rivers during 1980-2004 were higher than those in the St. Lawrence River in Canada and lower than those in the Thames, Donau, Rhine, Seine, and Han rivers during the same period. River N export will reduce by 58, 54, and 57% for the Changjiang River, Huanghe River, and Zhujiang River in the control scenario in 2050 compared with the basic scenario.

Excreta Deposition on Grassland Patches. II. Spatial Pattern and Duration of Forage Responses

ABSTRACTForage dry matter harvested (DMH) and nutritive value (NV) are affected by livestock excreta. Efforts to model nutrient cycling in grazed grasslands would benefit from increased understanding of the duration and spatial pattern of excreta effects on grassland patches. These responses were measured on ‘Pensacola’ bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum Flüggé) swards treated with two excreta types (dung and urine) from two excreta source pastures (Average and High management intensities based on N fertilizer and stocking rates) applied at four frequencies (0, 1, 2, 3 per year) during 2 yr. Forage DMH under dung pats decreased, but DMH surrounding the pat was not affected by application frequency. Suppression of DMH by dung was ≥112 d and extent of suppression increased as application frequency increased. In contrast, DMH under urine increased linearly (2950 to 6250 kg ha−1 for the Average management intensity and 3480 to 6450 kg ha−1 for the High management intensity) as application frequency increased and effects were observed 15 cm beyond the deposit's edge. Forage NV was not affected by dung, but it increased with increasing urine application frequency and for distances up to 30 cm from the edge of the urine deposit. Urine increased DMH for ≥84 d and increased crude protein for ≥28 d following a single urine application and ≥84 d after multiple applications. Data show that duration and spatial patterns of forage response to dung and urine differ, but effects of both can be long lived and are increased by multiple deposits to a patch.

Optimization of Fertilizer Application Schedule: Utilization of Digestate after Anaerobic Digestion as Liquid Fertilizer

Anaerobic digestion, which is a series of processes to break down organic matter without oxygen is used for waste treatment. Organic wastes with high moisture content, such as livestock excreta, food waste, kitchen garbage, and so on are broken down by microorganisms, and biogas can be obtained. Digestate, which is produced as a byproduct, has rich nutrient and can be used as fertilizer. However, it must be applied in large quantities because the concentrations of nutrient in it are much lower than chemical fertilizer. The objective of this study is to develop a method, which determines the optimum fertilizer application schedule in order to establish minimum digestate utilization system, which consists of slurry spreaders, vacuum trucks for transportation, and reservoirs. In order to achieve this objective, the working hours in each farm field was calculated through the simulation, and the necessary number of vacuum trucks could be obtained in order not to occur idle time.

Nutrient transport characteristics of livestock manure in a farmland

Background: Livestock excretions containing high concentration of nutrient, pig liquid fertilizer, and cattle manure were applied to agricultural land. The characteristics of nutrient transport were examined in surface runoff and groundwater by an artificial rainfall event at real scale field site. Also, the effects of the artificial rainfall event on the characteristics of residual soil after the rainfall and phosphorus adsorption capacity were evaluated in the lab. Results: As results from the field experiments, nitrogen concentration was decreased by the repeatable precipitation in surface runoff, but the nitrate concentration in groundwater was gradually increased by biological metabolism, especially with pig liquid fertilizer. Phosphorus was mostly adsorbed into the soil, and its reduction was affected by the soil drainage due to surface runoff in summer. The adsorption capacity of the phosphorus via a jar test was determined as 0.7 mg P/kg of soil. Conclusion: The soil adsorption capacity would be an important factor for the optimum level of nutrient application that is required for agricultural performance and minimal environmental impact.

Evaluating a Rapid Method to Determine Faecal Burden on Pasture from Grazing Cattle

Grazing livestock excrete large volumes of faecal material on pasture. Understanding the magnitude of this faecal burden is important for attributing sources of agricultural pollutants to different spatial and temporal scales. This field-based study evaluated the utility and transferability of a rapid approach often used in plant ecology (the line intercept method (LIM)) for estimating faecal burden from grazing cattle on pasture. Results from the LIM were of equivalent magnitude, with no significant difference observed, to those derived from more time-consuming sampling of faecal material from pasture using a quadrat-style methodology (herein termed burden sampling). However, the variability in estimates using the LIM was much larger (839–7,079 kg fresh weight faeces over the 50,000 m2 field) compared with estimates provided by the burden sampling of pasture at 0.2 % area sampled (1,616–3,979 kg/50,000 m2), 0.4 % area sampled (1,753–2,723 kg/50,000 m2) and 0.8 % area sampled (1,212–2,344 kg/50,000 m2). The LIM offers a rapid and cost-effective alternative to time-consuming sampling campaigns of faecal burden on pasture and provides estimations that are preferable to back-of-the-envelope calculations based on the over-simplification of livestock excretion rates.

Nitrogen isotope ratios of dissolved organic nitrogen in wet precipitation in a metropolis surrounded by agricultural areas in southern Korea

Despite the importance of dissolved organic N (DON) in wet precipitation, the N isotope ratio (δ15N) of DON has rarely been reported when compared to those of inorganic N (NH4+ and NO3−). This study was conducted to investigate seasonal variation of δ15N of DON in comparison with the δ15N of NH4+ and NO3− during wet precipitation in a metropolis area that is surrounded by agricultural areas in southern Korea. For two years (2007 and 2008), all effective precipitation events (>5mm) were collected and the δ15N of NH4+, NO3−, DON, and total N were analyzed, and the volume-weighted monthly mean N deposition and δ15N were calculated. The contribution of DON to total N deposition (41.0 and 37.3% in 2007 and 2008, respectively) was compatible to that of NH4+ and two times higher than that of NO3−. The annual mean δ15N of DON (0.3 and 0.2‰ in 2007 and 2008, respectively) was higher than that of NH4+ (−3.0 and −6.8‰, respectively) but similar to that of NO3− (1.5 and −0.5‰, respectively). The seasonal pattern of molar ratio of NH4+/NO3− in combination with δ15N of NH4+ and NO3− indicated that there were multiple diffuse sources of N deposition presented and seasonal shifting of main sources of N deposition occurred in the study site. These sources included fertilized agricultural fields in the spring and early summer, livestock excrements in the middle summer and fall, and coal-fired boilers in the winter. The intimate relationship between DON and NH4+ in terms of % portion in total N and their δ15N suggested that the source of DON was closely coupled with that of NH4+; e.g. fertilizer and livestock excretion. A direct measurement of N species emitted from fertilized agricultural field and livestock manure is necessary to confirm the source of DON.

A GEO-VISUAL ANALYTICS APPROACH TO BIOLOGICAL SHEPHERDING: MODELLING ANIMAL MOVEMENTS AND IMPACTS

Abstract. The lamb industry in Victoria is a significant component of the state economy with annual exports in the vicinity of $1 billion. GPS and visualisation tools can be used to monitor grazing animal movements at the farm scale and observe interactions with the environment. Modelling the spatial-temporal movements of grazing animals in response to environmental conditions provides input for the design of paddocks with the aim of improving management procedures, animal performance and animal welfare. The term "biological shepherding" is associated with the re-design of environmental conditions and the analysis of responses from grazing animals. The combination of biological shepherding with geo-visual analytics (geo-spatial data analysis with visualisation) provides a framework for improving landscape design and supports research in grazing behaviour in variable landscapes, heat stress avoidance behaviour during summer months, and modelling excreta distributions (with respect to nitrogen emissions and nitrogen return for fertilising the paddock). Nitrogen losses due to excreta are mainly in the form of gaseous emissions to the atmosphere and leaching into the groundwater. In this study, background and context are provided in the case of biological shepherding and tracking animal movements. Examples are provided of recent applications in regional Australia and New Zealand. Based on experimental data and computer simulation, and using data visualisation and feature extraction, it was demonstrated that livestock excreta are not always randomly located, but concentrated around localised gathering points, sometimes separated by the nature of the excretion. Farmers require information on the nitrogen losses in order to reduce emissions to meet local and international nitrogen leaching and greenhouse gas targets and to improve the efficiency of nutrient management.

The advantages of multi-cluster structure in city planning: From nutrient flow balance and environmental protection perspective – Take Beijing for example

As the gathering places of various materials and energy flow, cities will be threatened by more environment pressures if these energy and nutrients gathered there were not efficiently disposed. Thus, based on the nutrient cycling principles using greater Beijing municipality as example, we calculated the nutrients supply from human and livestock excreta and crops, as well as nutrients holding capacity of cultivated land under the 15,000kg grain per ha yield condition. The results showed that the nutrients that flow into Beijing is higher than outflow to cultivated land. We recommend organic farming development to fully utilize nutrients from human and livestock excreta, and indicated that we should also adapt multi-cluster urban structure to increase the interface between urban structure and rural farming, and ultimately increase the energy and nutrient exchange efficiency between the two. By adapting this structure, nutrients collected in urban areas could be recycled back to agricultural use, and then the pressure on the urban eco-system could be reduced and improved.

The Research and Design of Horizontal Power Cutting Mixer

The environmental pollution of the rural area partly results from the excrement of sheep, cattle and poultry. In a systematic project of regulating and harnessing the excrement, the additive is applied to mix the faeces to remove the unbearable smell from livestock excreta and to make better and comprehensive utilization of the excreta. At present, the mixers at home and abroad are not applicable to mix the excrement of domestic animals for the reason that there are so many fibers in it. The shapes of sheep and cattle excrement like a ball which demands the rotor of the mixer to have the clipping function. Thus, the clipping and mixing machine is designed. Its principle, structure, technique and its main parameters are analyzed and proved in this paper.

Multi‐Criteria Evaluation for Collaborative Circulating Farming with Collective Operations Between Arable and Cattle Farmers

ABSTRACTTokachi sub‐prefecture in Hokkaido is one of the most famous dairy and crop farming regions in Japan. It is known that Tokachi is faced with various difficult problems such as soil degradation, water contamination and unpleasant odours because of the excessive use of chemical fertilizers and inappropriate treatment of livestock excretion. In this paper, we focus on Shihoro town where agricultural outputs are relatively large in Tokachi, and propose collaborative circulating farming with collective operations between arable and cattle farmers. Under the assumption that the decision‐maker in this problem is a representative of a farming organization who hopes for sustainable agricultural development and values the intentions of local residents including arable and cattle farmers in this region, we employ multi‐attribute utility theory in order to evaluate multiple alternatives of the farming management problem. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Estimation of nitrogen flow within a village-farm model in Fakara region in Niger, Sahelian zone of West Africa

To determine the efficiency of utilization of organic matter in agricultural production, nitrogen flow was estimated within a village-farm model in the west of Niger, West Africa. Nitrogen was focused on in this study as it is known to be a major nutrient component of organic matter and one of the limiting nutrients in Sahelian soil. Local practices regarding the use of organic matter and pertinent information on traditional practices for soil fertility management were determined by interviews with local farmers. To estimate nitrogen flow in farmlands and consumption in the village through various activities, quantitative measurements of crop yield and organic amendment were carried out. Data on human and livestock excreta were taken from published reports. The size and classification of farmlands were as follows: 0.5 ha adjacent farmland, 1.6 ha threshing farmland, 6.0 ha transported-manure farmland, 5.5 ha corralling farmland, and 86.5 ha extensively managed farmland (EMF). Levels of nitrogen flow from these farmlands to the studied villages were 0.9, 2.9, 9.6, 15.2, and 94.2 Mg, while the flows to these farmlands were 14.6, 6.3, 13.7, 17.5, and 26.3 Mg, respectively. Upon calculation of nitrogen balance −8 kg ha−1 year−1 was estimated in EMF, but there was a positive balance in other types of farmland, which ranged from 4 to 262 kg ha−1 year−1, indicating inefficient use of nitrogen in the study area for crop production. The results indicated that nutrient flow in the study site was unequally distributed and nitrogen was not recycled. Therefore, efforts should be made to establish efficient utilization of available nutrients by reducing the loss from livestock feed and human consumption. At the same time, more research is needed to improve the management of EMF.

A high‐resolution ammonia emission inventory in China

The existence of gas‐phase ammonia (NH3) in the atmosphere and its interaction with other trace chemical species could have a substantial impact on tropospheric chemistry and global climate change. China is a large agricultural country with an enormous animal population, tremendous nitrogen fertilizer consumption and, consequently, a large emission of NH3. Despite the importance of NH3 in the global nitrogen (N) cycle, considerable inaccuracies and uncertainty exist regarding its emission in China. In this study, a comprehensive NH3 emission inventory was compiled for China on a 1 km × 1 km grid, which is suitable for input to atmospheric models. We attempted to estimate NH3 emissions accurately by taking into consideration as many native experiment results as possible and parameterizing the emission factors (EFs) by the ambient temperature, soil acidity and other factors. The total NH3emission in China was approximately 9.8 Tg in 2006. The emission sources considered included livestock excreta (5.3 Tg), fertilizer application (3.2 Tg), agricultural soil (0.2 Tg), nitrogen‐fixing plants (0.05 Tg), crop residue compost (0.3 Tg), biomass burning (0.1 Tg), urine from rural populations (0.2 Tg), chemical industry (0.2 Tg), waste disposal (0.1 Tg) and traffic (0.1 Tg). The regions with the highest emission rates are located in Central and Southwest China. Seasonally, the peak ammonia emissions occur in spring and summer.

Designing a regional nitrogen cycle module of grassland for the IAP-N model

Assessment of the nitrogen (N) balance and its long-term trend is necessary for management practices because of the negative environmental effects caused by an imbalance of reactive N in grassland ecosystems. In this study, we designed a module for the IAP-N (Improving Anthropogenic Practices of managing reactive Nitrogen) model to enable it to assess the N budget of regional grasslands. The module was developed to quantify the individual components of the N inputs and outputs for grassland ecosystems using livestock and human populations, grassland area, and fossil-energy consumption data as the model inputs. In this paper, the estimation approaches for individual components of N budget, data acquisition, and parameter selection are described in detail. The model was applied to assess the N budget of Inner Mongolia in 2006 at the county scale. The simulation results show that the most important pathway of N outputs from the grassland was livestock intake. The N output from livestock intake was especially large in the middle of Inner Mongolia. Biological fixation, atmospheric deposition, and livestock excreta deposition were comparably important for the N inputs into the grassland. The N budget for Inner Mongolia grassland in 2006 was −1.7×108±0.6×108 kg. The case study for Inner Mongolia shows that the new grassland module for the IAP-N model can capture the characteristics of the N budget in a semiarid grassland.