Experimental research on the effects of water application on greenhouse gas emissions from beef cattle feedlots

The effect of water application (e.g., through rainfall or sprinkler system) on emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), such as nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), and carbon dioxide (CO2), from pen surfaces of open-lot beef cattle feedlots was evaluated under controlled laboratory conditions. Soil/manure samples were collected from several randomly selected pens from two beef cattle feedlots in Kansas and were used as simulated pen surfaces. Three treatments (i.e., dry and loose, moist and loose, and moist and compacted pen surface conditions) were considered, simulating surface conditions in the field after a typical rainfall event or water application with a sprinkler system. Soil/manure and water were mixed within glass containers and analyzed for GHG emission using a photo-acoustic infrared multi-gas analyzer; emission rates were calculated from measured concentrations. GHG emissions from the dry soil/manure samples were low, with mean values of 0.02, 0.00, and 45 mg m−2 h−1 for N2O, CH4, and CO2, respectively, compared to moist soil/manure samples. Water application on the dry manure samples resulted in large peaks of GHG fluxes, with peak values of 99.2, 28.6, and 15,443 mg m−2 h−1 for N2O, CH4, and CO2, respectively.

[1]  R. Buresh,et al.  Simultaneous minimization of nitrous oxide and methane emission from rice paddy soils is improbable due to redox potential changes with depth in a greenhouse experiment without plants , 2009 .

[2]  F. Mitloehner,et al.  Effect of water sprinkling on incidence of zoonotic pathogens in feedlot cattle. , 2005, Journal of animal science.

[3]  Roger A. Eigenberg,et al.  Seasonal and spatial variations of denitrifying enzyme activity in feedlot soil , 2001 .

[4]  H. Janzen,et al.  Nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide and methane emissions from irrigated cropping systems as influenced by legumes, manure and fertilizer , 2008 .

[5]  R. Hatano,et al.  Nitrous oxide emissions for 6 years from a gray lowland soil cultivated with onions in Hokkaido, Japan , 2002, Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems.

[6]  Yongjing Zhao,et al.  Greenhouse gas and alcohol emissions from feedlot steers and calves. , 2011, Journal of environmental quality.

[7]  R. Delaune,et al.  Nitrous Oxide Flux from Soybeans Grown on Mississippi Alluvial Soil , 2004 .

[8]  Larry E. Erickson,et al.  Nitrous Oxide Fluxes from a Commercial Beef Cattle Feedlot in Kansas , 2014 .

[9]  R. Hatano,et al.  Comparison of the closed-chamber and gas concentration gradient methods for measurement of CO2 and N2O fluxes in two upland field soils , 2008 .

[10]  N. Hofstra,et al.  Denitrification in Agricultural Soils: Summarizing Published Data and Estimating Global Annual Rates , 2005, Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems.

[11]  S. Solomon.  The Physical Science Basis : Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , 2007 .

[12]  H. Es,et al.  Soil and Water Quality: An Agenda for Agriculture , 1995 .

[13]  F. Zvomuya,et al.  Nitrous oxide emissions from Chernozemic soils amended with anaerobically digested beef cattle feedlot manure: A laboratory study , 2011 .

[14]  D. E. Johnson,et al.  Analysis of Messy Data Volume I: Designed Experiments , 1985 .

[15]  Changsheng Li.  Quantifying greenhouse gas emissions from soils: Scientific basis and modeling approach , 2007 .

[16]  Johan Six,et al.  Tillage and seasonal emissions of CO2, N2O and NO across a seed bed and at the field scale in a Mediterranean climate , 2009 .

[17]  DiMarkco Stephen Chandler.  The Redox Potential , 2012 .

[18]  E. Paul,et al.  Soil microbiology, ecology, and biochemistry , 2015 .

[19]  Changsheng Li,et al.  Manure-DNDC: a biogeochemical process model for quantifying greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions from livestock manure systems , 2012, Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems.

[20]  M. Schloter,et al.  Traditional cattle manure application determines abundance, diversity and activity of methanogenic Archaea in arable European soil. , 2007, Environmental microbiology.

[21]  W. H. Patrick,et al.  Methane and Nitrous Oxide Emissions from a Rice Field in Relation to Soil Redox and Microbiological Processes , 2000 .

[22]  C. D. de Klein,et al.  Denitrification and N2O emission from urine-affected grassland soil , 1994, Plant and Soil.

[23]  Dallas E. Johnson,et al.  Analysis of messy data , 1992 .

[24]  E. Paul.  SOIL MICROBIOLOGY, ECOLOGY, AND BIOCHEMISTRY IN PERSPECTIVE , 2007 .

[25]  C. Nevison,et al.  Closing the global N2O budget: nitrous oxide emissions through the agricultural nitrogen cycle , 1998, Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems.

[26]  J. Tiedje,et al.  Denitrification in a Tallgrass Prairie Landscape , 1993 .

[27]  R. Scholes,et al.  NO and N2O emissions from savanna soils following the first simulated rains of the season , 1997, Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems.

[28]  Richard W. Healy,et al.  Numerical Evaluation of Static‐Chamber Measurements of Soil—Atmosphere Gas Exchange: Identification of Physical Processes , 1996 .

[29]  R. Hatano,et al.  Three years of nitrous oxide and nitric oxide emissions from silandic andosols cultivated with maize in Hokkaido, Japan , 2006 .

[30]  Timothy B Parkin,et al.  Nitrous oxide emissions from corn-soybean systems in the midwest. , 2006, Journal of environmental quality.

[31]  J. Harner,et al.  LABORATORY EVALUATION OF THE DUST-EMISSION POTENTIAL OF CATTLE FEEDLOT SURFACES , 2006 .

[32]  Gary F. Bennett,et al.  In situ bioremediation: When does it work? , 1995 .

[33]  E. Davidson.  Sources of nitric oxide and nitrous oxide following wetting of dry soil , 1992 .

[34]  B. Auvermann,et al.  Laboratory evaluation of dust-control effectiveness of pen surface treatments for cattle feedlots. , 2011, Journal of environmental quality.

[35]  R. Conrad,et al.  Factors influencing the population of methanogenic bacteria and the initiation of methane production upon flooding of paddy soil , 1990 .

[36]  Reinoud Segers,et al.  Methane production and methane consumption: a review of processes underlying wetland methane fluxes , 1998 .

[37]  S. Saggar,et al.  Modelling nitrous oxide emissions from dairy-grazed pastures , 2004, Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems.

[38]  T. Clough,et al.  Biochar incorporation into pasture soil suppresses in situ nitrous oxide emissions from ruminant urine patches. , 2011, Journal of environmental quality.

[39]  G. Milliken,et al.  Carbon and nitrogen mineralization as affected by drying and wetting cycles , 2005 .

[40]  L. Erickson,et al.  Laboratory evaluation of surface amendments for controlling greenhouse gas emissions from beef cattle feedlots , 2013 .

[41]  Board on Agriculture.  Soil and Water Quality: An Agenda for Agriculture , 1993 .