Project

Improving the agro-environmental value of cattle straw manure

Considerable amounts of nitrogen (N) are lost during each phase of the manure management chain (animal housing, manure storage and manure application) as ammonia (NH3), nitrogen oxide (NO2), nitric oxide (NO), nitrous oxide (N2O) and dinitrogen (N2) emissions, and some as leached nitrate (NO3-). However, the control of N losses during one phase could enhance them in subsequent phases (Rotz, 2004). Therefore, it is crucial to develop and evaluate effective measures that could reduce the emissions throughout the whole manure management chain and enhance crop N utilization after manure field application.

The overall aim of this project is to gain insight and knowledge on the sources, magnitude and influencing factors of N loss routes from straw-manure based cattle farming systems (of NH3,N2O and other N-containing gases, especially N2) in the barn, the storage facility and during field application, and to develop smart strategies to reduce these losses throughout the whole manure management chain and improve N utilization by the crop.