Intelligent assessment of manure collection and storage systems on a dairy farm by the greenhouse gas emissions

Abstract

In greenhouse gas emissions a significant part is accounted for by livestock production. The largest amount comes from ruminants including the manure collection and storage facilities. As existing farms are modernized and new farms are built, the proportion of loose housing systems in them is increasing. They are characterized by a shift from solid manure to liquid manure production. The study is aimed at estimating the greenhouse gas emissions from different modern manure collection and storage systems on cattle farms. The estimation was based on data from one of the agricultural enterprises of the Northwestern Federal District following the Guidelines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the developed national methodology for the inventory of greenhouse gas emissions. The study considered three most common manure handling technologies. The results showed that the transition to liquid manure production systems contributed to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions due to higher methane production. At the agricultural enterprise studied, methane emissions increased from 1894.17 kg/year to 36137.02 kg/year. The application of manure separation into solid and liquid fractions followed by their individual treatment, reduced methane emissions to 6269.70 kg/year. Nitrous oxide is released during the solid manure processing. It can be reduced by controlled aeration.