Ammonia Emissions from Eight Types of Dairy Manure During Storage

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Why Study Ammonia Emissions from Dairy Manure?

  1. To study the interactive effects of large particle solids removal, anaerobic digestion and amendment of a manure additive (More than manure®), along with environmental factors on NH3 emissions from dairy slurry during storage.
  2. To demonstrate a cost-effective and instantaneous NH3 measurement method using GasAlert NH3 detector under field conditions.

What Did We Do?

Twenty-six liters of each manure was stored in plastic storage buckets in duplicate in a  barn with the surface open to the atmosphere. GasAlert readings of NH3 were obtained weekly from each container. Samples from each manure were analyzed for total N, NH4-N, total solids and volatile solids. Data collected was manure temperature, manure pH and ambient temperature. Average NH3 concentration, peak NH3 concentration and NH3 flux was calculated for each manure treatment.

What Have We Learned?

1. AD manure may result in greater N loss in the form of NH3 than raw manure.

2. Higher amounts of solids can preserve more total nitrogen in manure, which can potentially result in greater NH3 loss during storage.

3. The manure amendment “More Than Manure®” did not have a significant effect on preserving N in manure during storage.

4. The GasAlert® NH3 detector can be adopted as a cost-effective tool for determination of  NH3.

Future Plans

1.Examine the effect of manure sources on emissions of greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4 and N2O) during storage.

2. Include additional environmental factors, such as ventilation and solar radiation, to observe the external impact on manure N loss potential.

3. Evaluate gaseous losses from manure over extended lengths of time, > 3 months.

Additional Information

Ammonia Emissions from Eight Types of Diary Manure During Storage (PDF version of poster)

Poster Graphs

Authors

Joe Harrison, professor, Washington State University, Puyallup Research and Extension Center, jhharrison@wsu.edu

Fei Sun1, graduate student

Joe Harrison1, professor

Pius Ndegwa2, associate professor

HungSoo Joo2, post Doc research associate

Liz Whitefield1, research associate

Kris Johnson2, professor

1Washington State University Research and Extension Center, 2 Washington State University

Acknowledgements

Specialty Fertilizer Products (SFP), LLC for financial support  

 

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