Understanding methane emission from stored animal manure: A review to guide model development.

National inventories of methane (CH ) emission from manure management are based on guidelines from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change using country-specific emission factors. These calculations must be simple and, consequently, the effects of management practices and environmental conditions are only crudely represented in the calculations. The intention of this review is to develop a detailed understanding necessary for developing accurate models for calculating CH emission from liquid manure, with particular focus on the microbiological conversion of organic matter to CH .

Regional climate influences manure temperature and methane emissions - A pan-Canadian modelling assessment.

This study explores the variation of liquid manure temperature (T) and CH emissions associated with contrasting regional climates, inter-annual weather variation, and manure storage emptying. As a case-study, six regions across Canada were used, spanning 11°32' latitude and 58°30' longitude. Annual average air temperatures ranged from 3.

Does overwintering change the inoculum effect on methane emissions from stored liquid manure?

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, especially methane (CH ), from manure storage facilities can be substantial. Methane production requires adapted microbial communities ("inoculum") to be present in the manure. Complete removal of liquid dairy manure (thus removing all inoculum) from storage tanks in the spring has been shown to significantly reduce CH emissions over the following warm season.

Effects of Two Manure Additives on Methane Emissions from Dairy Manure.

Liquid manure is a significant source of methane (CH), a greenhouse gas. Many livestock farms use manure additives for practical and agronomic purposes, but the effect on CH emissions is unknown. To address this gap, two lab studies were conducted, evaluating the CH produced from liquid dairy manure with Penergetic-g (12 mg/L, 42 mg/L, and 420 mg/L) or AgrimestMix (30.

Intermittent agitation of liquid manure: effects on methane, microbial activity, and temperature in a farm-scale study.

Liquid manure storages are a significant source of methane (CH) emissions. Farmers commonly agitate (stir) liquid manure prior to field application to homogenize nutrients and solids. During agitation, manure undergoes mechanical stress and is exposed to the air, disrupting anaerobic conditions.

Quantifying greenhouse gas emissions from municipal solid waste dumpsites in Cameroon.

Open dumpsites that receive municipal solid waste are potentially significant sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into the atmosphere. There is little data available on emissions from these sources, especially in the unique climate and management of central Africa. This research aimed at quantifying CH, NO and CO emissions from two open dumpsites in Cameroon, located in Mussaka-Buea, regional headquarters of the South West Region and in Mbellewa-Bamenda, regional headquarters of the North West Region.

On the systematic underestimation of methane conversion factors in IPCC guidance.

This paper documents a systematic underestimation in how the Tier 2 methane conversion factors (MCF) are calculated in IPCC (2006) guidelines for liquid manure management. The first issue is the use of annual average temperature as an input to a non-linear function describing methane production. As expected based on Jensen's inequality, the MCF calculated based on annual average temperature is always an underestimate.

Potential methane emission reductions for two manure treatment technologies.

The effect of two dairy manure treatments, solid-liquid separation (SLS) and anaerobic digestion (AD), on methane potential and the speed of production was evaluated. Assays were performed in the lab to measure methane (CH) production over 202 d from dairy manure samples taken before and after each treatment. Compared to raw manure, CH emissions on a per-L basis were reduced 81% by SLS and 59% by AD, on average.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Stored Dairy Slurry from Multiple Farms.

A significant need exists to improve our understanding of the extent of greenhouse gas emissions from the storage of livestock manure to both improve the reliability of inventory assessments and the impact of beneficial management practice adoption. Factors affecting the extent and variability of greenhouse gas emissions from stored dairy manure were investigated. Emissions from six slurries stored in clean concrete tanks under identical "warm-season" conditions were monitored consecutively over 173 d (18°C average air temperature).

Field Nitrogen Losses Induced by Application Timing of Digestate from Dairy Manure Biogas Production.

Anaerobic digestion of dairy manure has environmental benefits, but the impact of effluent (i.e., digestate [DG]) application on environmental nitrogen (N) losses from soils has not been well quantified.

Does Fall Removal of the Dairy Manure Sludge in a Storage Tank Reduce Subsequent Methane Emissions?

When liquid manure is removed from storages for land application, "sludge" generally remains at the bottom of the tank. This may serve as an inoculum when fresh manure is subsequently added, thereby increasing methane (CH) emissions. Previous pilot-scale studies have shown that completely emptying storages can decrease CH emissions; however, no farm-scale studies have been conducted to quantify the effect of sludge removal.

Methane emissions from digestate at an agricultural biogas plant.

Methane (CH4) emissions were measured over two years at an earthen storage containing digestate from a mesophilic biodigester in Ontario, Canada. The digester processed dairy manure and co-substrates from the food industry, and destroyed 62% of the influent volatile solids (VS). Annual average emissions were 19gCH4m(-3)d(-1) and 0.

Micrometeorological measurements over 3 years reveal differences in N2 O emissions between annual and perennial crops.

Perennial crops can deliver a wide range of ecosystem services compared to annual crops. Some of these benefits are achieved by lengthening the growing season, which increases the period of crop water and nutrient uptake, pointing to a potential role for perennial systems to mitigate soil nitrous oxide (N2 O) emissions. Employing a micrometeorological method, we tested this hypothesis in a 3-year field experiment with a perennial grass-legume mixture and an annual corn monoculture.